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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
95/06/04 Press Conf. following Summit of Americas Review Session
OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
(Port-au-Prince, Haiti)
___________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release June 4, 1995
PRESS CONFERENCE
SECRETARY OF STATE WARREN CHRISTOPHER AND THOMAS F. MCLARTY
FOLLOWING
THE FOREIGN MINISTERS' SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS
FOLLOW-UP REVIEW SESSION
Montrouis, Haiti
June 4, 1995
SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: Good afternoon. Today marks a signal event: the
gathering of the hemispheric community in a democratic Haiti. We are
here because our nations and the international community took resolute
action eight months ago to stand up for democracy.
Our effort in Haiti would not have been possible without a remarkable
convergence of values and interests among the 34 democratically elected
governments represented here today. Our common resolve also made
possible last December's Summit of the Americas in Miami, and its
historic decision to advance the integration of the Western Hemisphere.
Mack McLarty, who is the President's Special Representative for the
Summit of the Americas, and I have just come from a meeting of the
foreign ministers, where we discussed the progress we have made in
implementing the Summit and as you know Mack has a special
responsibility in that regard.
Our leaders made a commitment at the Summit to negotiate a Free Trade
Area of the Americas by 2005. Our trade ministers of the countries
involved will meet in Denver on June 30 to discuss preliminary steps
toward that goal to translate our consensus on open markets into an
action plan. The Denver Ministerial will be followed by a Trade and
Commerce Forum, an opportunity to advance commercial possibilities for
the people of the Americas and to help create jobs in a market of 750
million consumers. We are also moving ahead with discussions to admit
Chile into NAFTA, the next step in our commitment to regional
prosperity.
We have also taken important steps in the last six months to fulfill our
Summit commitments. The Organization of American States (OAS) is
strengthening its ability to uphold democracy and defend human rights.
The Inter-American Development Bank has committed to lend several
billion dollars to support the Summit priorities of education and
health.
We are taking a tough stand against crime and illegal drugs. This fall
marks the inauguration of a common strategy to fight money laundering.
The United States is also increasing its drug control budget to 15
million dollars, more than one-third of which will be to reduce demand.
All in all, I think we've made a good start on beginning the
implementation of a very active action plan, a very demanding action
plan. I think today's meeting, which we've just left, showed a strong
will to sustain the spirit of Miami and the vital force of hemispheric
cooperation.
The United States is also committed to helping the Haitian people
consolidate their hard-won democracy. Earlier this afternoon, I met
with the first graduates of Haiti's civilian police academy. This
institution is absolutely vital to the success of democracy and the rule
of law in Haiti. Working with France, Canada, and the UN, we plan to
double the number of cadets graduating from the academy. We want to
ensure that a professional and accountable force is in place when UN
peacekeepers leave Haiti. I think the ceremony we witnessed this
afternoon was very moving and a very strong indication of the commitment
to the rule of law here in Haiti under the direction of President
Aristide and his strong commitment to honor and respect. And now I will
ask Mr. McLarty to make a brief comment and then we will take your
questions.
THOMAS F. MCLARTY: Mr. Secretary, thank you very much. I am very
pleased to continue my engagement on Summit issues at the request of the
President and the Secretary of State. We emphasized today that Summit
of the Americas implementation was a key foreign policy goal of
President Clinton. The importance of this hemisphere, I think, was
stated very well by the Secretary both in terms of trade and democracy
and certain sustainable development issues. I also think that the
credibility of our respective governments to implement a plan of action
to make a difference in people's lives is a critical item. I think it
is a fair assessment to say that the Summit of Americas meeting in Miami
did create a new consensus that was echoed in comments made in today's
meeting: that open markets work, democratic governments are just, and
together they clearly offer our best hope to lift our people's lives.
The Summit did provide an architecture. It does rely very strongly on
the OAS and the IDB as an institutional framework to help implement the
Summit agenda as well as the ministerial meetings that Secretary
Christopher noted in his comments. All in all, I think we have a
positive beginning and a continuing positive experience of mutual
respect and trust as we move forward. I would encourage your review of
the implementation report for today's foreign ministers' meeting. Thank
you.
QUESTION: Could you talk at all about the situation in Bosnia and
whether or not you have anything new to report this afternoon?
SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: We did not discuss Bosnia in the ministerial
meeting and I don't have anything new to report. Unfortunately, there's
no new indication with respect to the whereabouts or condition of the
pilot. Ambassador Frasure sent me a message just before I got on the
plane this morning, and said that he had spoken with President
Milosevic, who said that he did not know the whereabouts or condition of
the pilot, but offered to continue pressing the Bosnian Serbs for that
information. There's no further release, as far as I know, of those who
were detained by the Bosnian Serbs. Although once again Ambassador
Frasure had reported to me that he had pressed President Milosevic very
hard to ensure the release of the hostages, or detainees, and that
Milosevic had indicated that he would continue trying, but that he was
encountering difficulty with the Bosnian Serbs.
Tom.
QUESTION: Would you say a bit more about the adherence of Chile to
NAFTA, please?
SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: We're in the course of active negotiations with
Chile, and we hope they'll be completed in the near future. That's the
next step in the economic integration of the hemisphere. I can't say
anything beyond that except that it's a very important step, and it's
one that we feel committed to take, and we're working hard to bring
those negotiations to a conclusion.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, thank you very much for your words. We have
35, not 34 states, members of the Organization of American States, and
Inter-American citizens. Cuba as a state is a member of this
organization. But not the government of Cuba, which is a totalitarian,
communist regime. Will the United States keep the embargo against the
Cuban government, and keep it out of the Organization of American
States, until the Cuban government becomes democratic and respects human
rights?
SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: I hope I fully understood your question. Let me
say that one of the strongest sentiments that came out of Miami was the
importance of adding the other missing country from the Summit, and that
was Cuba. Cuba should move toward democracy and market reform, and the
hope, I think, of all the leaders there was that a democratic Cuba would
be in a position to attend the next meeting of the Summit. But, I
didn't hear any suggestion that Cuba -- and certainly I would not
recommend that Cuba, without a change in it's approach to government and
approach to market economics should be admitted to a Summit, which was
basically a summit of democracies in the hemisphere.
The United States and other countries in the Hemisphere have a common
goal, and that is to try to cause movement within Cuba in the direction
of democracy. We have different routes to achieve that goal, but the
goal is a common one. The United States is following the provisions of
the Cuban Democracy Act which, as you know, is basically two-fold. One,
the maintenance of the embargo, and second, the improvement of
communications between the people of Cuba and the people of the United
States. We're going to be continuing to work to that end. Just let me
repeat that it was a common feeling of those at the Summit of the
Americas in Miami that, we should all work to try to make sure that at
the next meeting of the Summit leaders, we will have Cuba represented by
a democratically chosen government. One more question.
QUESTION: (Translated from Spanish) I represent a newspaper from the
Dominican Republic and I want to express a concern about the elections
that are about to be held in the Dominican Republic in 1996 under a
document which is called the Democratic Pact, the Pacto Democratico, in
which the government sector has more or less invited the United States
to come into and participate in the affairs of the Dominican Republic.
My question is: does the State Department continue to be interested in
the elections to be held in the Dominican Republic on August 16th, 1996?
SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: I think it is one of the achievements of the OAS
to work out - to help broker - the agreement that called for the
elections that you speak of. The United States is very interested in
seeing those elections held on time and in a way that will give great
reassurance to the people of the Dominican Republic that they were free
and fair.
The next session of the ministers was scheduled to start at 5:30 so I
think that it's time for me to terminate this press conference but I
understand that there may be another one to follow.
Thank you.
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