Note: This Electronic Research Collection is an archive site. For the most current information, please visit the
U.S. Department of State 93/12/17 Press Remarks with ForMin of Brazil Office of the Spokesman U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the Spokesman ______________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release December l7, l993 REMARKS BY SECRETARY OF STATE WARREN CHRISTOPHER AND BRAZILIAN FOREIGN MINISTER CELSO AMORIM PRIOR TO THEIR MEETING Department of State Washington, D.C. SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: Good morning. I am very pleased to welcome here Foreign Minister Amorim of Brazil. Brazil is such a fantastic country, so vast and so powerful. It is a real pleasure to meet with its Foreign Minister and to talk about our common problems. Brazil becomes a member of the Security Council this year, and thus our negotiations and our dealings will be even closer. I think it is a reflection of their importance in this hemisphere. I look forward to beginning discussions with him as we plan for a hemispheric summit. We have a number of matters to discuss here today -- issues involving intellectual property protection, as well as non-proliferation, but they are in the context of a long and close relationship. I welcome the Foreign Minister here to Washington and I look forward to -- I believe it is your first visit, isn't it? FOREIGN MINISTER AMORIM: It is my first visit as Minister, yes. I think that we also have to congratulate ourselves with the conclusion of the Uruguay Round in which we worked together very effectively. SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: Well, I welcome you here and I welcome you to make a statement, Mr. Minister. FOREIGN MINISTER AMORIM: Well, it is very important for Brazil to have an ongoing dialogue with the United States. It is the most important single partner of Brazil, individual country, and Brazil not only being the biggest country in Latin America, but the one which has more greater number of neighbors and also the biggest GNP. We are certainly a partner of importance for the United States in this new dimension of an Latin American policy that's been started by the Clinton Administration. So, we are also looking forward to discussing some of the issues that the Secretary mentioned and also some like transfer of technology and also access to the American markets in the context of this hemispheric initiative. Thank you. QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, a question about the hemisphere. There are some questions arising about whether the United States is still actively pursuing the return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide to Haiti? Is that still the U.S. policy to get Aristide back in Haiti? SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: Absolutely. There is a story this morning in one of the papers that struck me as being quite inaccurate. The "Four Friends" of Haiti met in France this week, decided that they would send a delegation to Haiti to try to pursue the Governor's Island Accord to try to find new mechanisms for the restoration of democracy and for the return of President Aristide. I don't pretend at all that the path will be easy, but the United States is resolute about pursuing the restoration of democracy and the return of President Aristide. I think we are going to try to find some ways to reactivate the Governor's Island Accord which seems to us to continue to be the right structure to move forward with. QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, the stories seem to have to do with the personal style of President Aristide as much as anything else. Does the United States still hold him in high regard? Does he still have your complete confidence? SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: Well, our dealings with him here in the United States -- others have dealt with him more than I -- have found him responsive and effective in those meetings, and I think he is a key factor in the meetings. We had a very high regard for Prime Minister Malval and we hope that he has not left the scene permanently as far as being effective in this picture. I will say that this is a time of transition here where we need to try to move to a new mechanism that can help to achieve the structure of the Governor's Island Accord. QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, on another front, there is a report this morning that you are lobbying hard for three billion dollars more in foreign aid, and that you going to talk to President Clinton about it today. Can you confirm, deny, or elaborate on this? SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: Well, we've had -- I think the press has been briefed here on, generally speaking, what we're going to be saying to the President. I wouldn't want to disclose with precision exactly what I'm going to be saying, but let me emphasize this: We're participating in the process that the President set up. We're working within the system. This is budget time and I'm going to make as strong a case as I can for the State Department programs. They are the President's programs as well. I believe in them. I know he believes in them. I understand and sympathize with the problem he has on allocation of resources, but my job is to put before him the best case I can for the kinds of programs that I believe in so deeply -- the population program, the environmental program, the peacekeeping program, the need to have the State Department operations adequately funded -- and then he will have to make those decisions. But I would stress we are operating properly within the process and we are going to make the very best case we can. QUESTION: When is the "hemispheric summit" that you referred to earlier? SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: Ralph, there has been no date set for the hemispheric summit. Notionally, we are talking about sometime in the middle of next year. That will certainly be an exceedingly important event when it comes about, because it will bring together the heads of democracies in the hemisphere. I'm not sure it's the first time, but it will be certainly a historic event when it happens. I think perhaps the Minister and I will go about our discussions. Thank you very much. QUESTION: Do you plan to go to Brazil soon? FOREIGN MINISTER AMORIM: I will invite him. SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: I certainly hope so. I'd love to go to Brazil and it's certainly in the back of my mind. Would you like to go Ralph? (Laughter) See if we can't work that out. (###)