For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
April 22, 2001
Remarks by the President in Press Conference at Conclusion of the Summit of the Americas
Quebec Convention Center Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
1:40 P.M. EDT
PRIME MINISTER CHRETIEN: (Remarks
in French.) We will start with the President of the United
States.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Mr. Prime Minister,
thank you very much, and congratulations on a very successful
summit. I want to thank you and your staff and the people of
Quebec City for their hospitality.
I've been most impressed by the discussions
we've had. It's clear to me that ours is a hemisphere united
by freedom. It's a partnership that will help us tackle the
big challenges that we all face -- the education of our children,
HIV-AIDS, protecting our environment. It's a strong
partnership. It's a partnership that will help us all
achieve what we want, and it's that everybody in our respective
countries are able to succeed and realize their dreams.
I want to thank my fellow leaders who were
here. This is my first summit, as you know. I've
been most impressed by the quality of leadership. I am most
thankful for the generous hospitality each leader showed
me. I listened a lot; I learned a lot. There's no
question in my mind we have challenges ahead of us, but there's also no
question that we can meet those challenges.
So, Mr. Prime Minister, thank you very much,
sir.
PRIME MINISTER CHRETIEN: Thank you,
Mr. President. And now we'll ask the President of Chile, Mr.
Lagos, to say a few words.
PRESIDENT LAGOS: (Remarks in
Spanish.)
PRIME MINISTER CHRETIEN: I would
like now to call on the host of the next Summit of the Americas, the
President of Argentina, Mr. de la Rua.
PRESIDENT DE LA RUA: (Remarks in
Spanish.)
PRIME MINISTER CHRETIEN: And now
the President of Mexico, Mr. Vicente Fox.
PRESIDENT FOX: (Remarks in
Spanish.)
PRIME MINISTER CHRETIEN: I thank
you very much, President Fox. And I now call on President
Andres Pastrana.
PRESIDENT PASTRANA: Thank you,
Honorable Right Prime Minister. First, I'd like to thank you, Mr.
Prime Minister, Mr. Chretien, and all of your people for your
hospitality in these last few days -- hospitality that we have enjoyed
in Quebec. I think that those who preceded me have expressed
the basic tenets of what has occurred here today, but now I would like
to share what President Lagos said, back what he said with regard to
the democratic clause, and the importance of it for the Americas.
We have put all of our efforts as leaders of
our democracies to strengthen our democracies. And as we
have said throughout this summit, we must move from a political
democracy to an economic democracy. Through that, we can
seek improvement of living conditions of the most poor and the neediest
amongst us.
If there is something that has brought us
together, or which unites us, or what calls us here today at this
summit, what calls 34 heads of state of the Americas together, what
calls us together is our concern for human beings, and particularly to
improve the conditions of life, as I said, for the poorest and the most
needy.
And, as President Fox said, this is the
opportunity to thank all 34 heads of state for their support to state
politics, the process of peace in Colombia. Thank you for
your support to a political and negotiated solution to the conflict
which has torn asunder our country for the last 30 years.
And, once again, as says the declaration, we
support the peace process. Thank you for your
support. And I would also like to call your attention to the
uprising, to those behind it, to those who are marginalized and not
following the law, and that this is enshrined in our
declaration. We can, and we will, quickly reach humanitarian
agreements with regard to the respect of human rights, respecting
humanitarian international law, and especially to not exclude the
civilian population.
PRIME MINISTER CHRETIEN: And now, I
would like to give the floor to President Francisco Flores from El
Salvador.
PRESIDENT FLORES: When the whole
world is facing a creative, technological and scientific revolution,
and countries become more and more integrated, it's key that leaders of
the world understand that the possibilities of our countries are based
on going from a view of the state as a closed and autonomous organ to a
collection of open, integrated societies that support democracy and
freedom.
And the definition of a new state is a basis
to struggle against poverty, to respect the tremendous diversities that
exist in the Americas, and the possibility of moving ahead in the world
the way we want to move ahead -- especially those of us who believe in
principles.
If anything has been learned from the greatest
and most recent tragedies in El Salvador, especially the last two
earthquakes, is that the foundations of countries are not physical
things, they are moral things. They are based on their strength and
their belief in principles and in the belief of men, women, and their
dignity.
I would like to thank the government of Canada
for hosting this meeting that has confirmed these values, which I
believe are the basis for hope for the future in the Americas.
PRIME MINISTER CHRETIEN: Thank
you. I thank President Flores. I give the floor
to Prime Minister Owen Archer of the Barbados.
PRIME MINISTER ARCHER: Mr. Prime
Minister, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share a
perspective on behalf of the Caribbean. It is not only the
smallest and most vulnerable region in our hemisphere, but the smallest
and most vulnerable region in the world.
From the outset in 1994, we were very clear
that the exercise in which we are involved through these summits is
greater than the mere creation of an integrated economic area, but must
entail our creation of a program of development cooperation to support
the emergence and the evolution of a truly hemispheric community for
the Americas. And from the onset, we were clear that the
effort had to stand the test of equity, had to stand the test of
inclusiveness, and had to stand the test of relevance. It
has to be relevant for today's purposes and tomorrow's
needs. The Caribbean is pleased to be able to say that this
summit has taken us a far distance to being satisfied in all of those
tests.
We are not only living in the 21st century, we
are now living in a new information age in which there is a great
danger of a new dangerous inequality caused by a digital
divide. And I believe that in the context of a 21st century
society, this summit will stand as that summit where the leaders of the
Americas determined that there should be no digital divide in our
Americas; that the benefits of the new information technology have been
brought within the reach of all of our citizens. Our
connectivity agenda is, in my judgment, the most exciting new
development from this summit, which I commend to the people of the
Caribbean.
We are also very pleased that the arrangements
for economic integration have now been so deliberately designed to
truly accommodate the special concerns of the smallest and the most
vulnerable entities in our hemisphere. And this summit has
stood the test of equity.
May I also say, Mr. Prime Minister, that the
Caribbean has used this summit as well and the meetings in the margin
of this summit to lay a foundation for stronger bilateral relationships
with our neighbors, particularly the United States of America, Canada,
Central America, and the Mercosur countries and the Andean countries,
and that we can leave this summit looking to the prospect of being part
of a successful partnership in a successful neighborhood of the
Americas.
I thank you.
PRIME MINISTER CHRETIEN: Thank you
very much, Mr. Prime Minister.
And now the journalists have the floor.
Q Mr. President,
President Bush, I will direct my question to the Prime Minister of
Canada, but we would very much like you to answer the question
afterwards, if you don't mind. (Question then asked in
French.)
PRIME MINISTER CHRETIEN: (Remarks
in French, then in English.) So I don't think that it is a
question of our legitimacy. We are very
legitimate. We were elected, all of us. And when
you look at what was the Americas some 30 years ago, and what it is
today, look at the progress that democracy has made. Look at
the clause that we have developed together at this time to make sure
that democracy will remain in the Americas.
And a lot of people were invited to
comment. We organized a parallel summit, at the expense of
the government, and they met, they discussed, they debated, they met
with ministers, there were ministers from my government and ministers
from many other governments that listened to them. And I'm very proud
of the unions, for example, who decided to organize a parade of
protest; it was done in a very orderly fashion. They made
sure that those who wanted to break everything were not part of it.
There were some hundreds of them who had come
with the goal of trying to disrupt us, and I want to say a great
thank-you again to the police of the city of Quebec, of the province of
Quebec, and the federal police, for the way that they have handled the
situation. We could see it on TV. And the
restrain, the discipline they've shown is an example.
I guess in other summits there will still be
some protestors. They communicate among themselves on the
Internet and so on, and they have the right to protest. But
we will not tolerate breaking the peace of the people. In a
democracy, you have a right to speak, but you have to respect the law.
And I don't know if the President would like
to comment on that.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, let me just
say that I campaigned vigorously on a free trade
agenda. There should be no question in anybody's mind in my
country that I would come to Quebec City to promote trade.
For those who question trade and its benefits,
I would urge them to look at the experience that we've had as a result
of NAFTA. Canada has benefitted; Mexico has benefitted; the
United States has benefitted. Sure, there are going to be
some who complain, and that's what happens in a
democracy. But the overall benefits have been great for our
three countries. And it serves as an example to attract the
positive opinions of other leaders who came to this
summit. It's a positive example for the doubters to look at,
for the skeptics to see that wealth can be spread throughout our
hemisphere.
And we have a choice to make. We
can combine in a common market so we can compete in the long-term with
the Far East and Europe, or we can go on our own. I submit,
and I suspect the other leaders will echo with me -- I hope they do, at
least -- that going on our own is not the right way to do
so. Combining in a market in our own hemisphere makes
sense. It's a logical extension of what's taken place
through NAFTA.
There are some people in my country that want
to shut down free trade. And they're welcome to express their
opinions. I heard it throughout the campaign. But
it's not going to change my opinion about the benefits of free trade,
not only for my country and the people who work in my country and the
people who wonder whether there's a future in my country, but the
benefits of free trade for all the countries of this hemisphere are
strong. And I intend to vigorously pursue a free trade agenda.
PRIME MINISTER CHRETIEN: Thank
you.
Next.
Q Thank you,
sir. President Bush, you talked at the summit with Peru's
leader about the downing of a U.S. missionary plane in a joint
U.S.-Peru mission. Your administration has not clarified the
U.S. role in this incident thus far, so I'd like to follow up
briefly. How much responsibility do we bear, since it was
our spotter plane that identified the missionaries' aircraft for Peru's
Air Force to pursue?
PRESIDENT BUSH: First, the incident
that took place in Peru is a terrible tragedy. And our
hearts go out to the families who have been
affected. Secondly, I did speak to the Prime Minister of
Peru, who expressed his government's sincere condolences.
Our government is involved with helping, and a
variety of agencies are involved with helping our friends in South
America identify airplanes that might be carrying illegal
drugs. These operations have been going on for quite a
while. We've suspended such flights until we get to the
bottom of the situation, to fully understand all the facts, to
understand what went wrong in this terrible tragedy.
Q What was our role,
sir, in the downing?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Our role was to,
like in other missions, Ron, was to provide information as to tail
numbers. Our role is to help countries identify planes that
fail to file flight plans. Our role was to simply pass on
information. But we'll get to the bottom of the
situation. But I want everybody in my country to understand
that we weep for the families whose lives have been affected.
Q Good
afternoon. I have a question for the President of the United
States. Mr. Bush, you're personally committed to the
liberalization of this hemisphere, but you don't have a broad-based
mandate from the U.S. Congress to negotiate. What can the
governments of Latin America do to help you overcome the opposition of
economic groups and of legislators in your country? Thank
you.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Write your
congressman. (Laughter.) I appreciate that so
very much. That's the very same statement that the President
of Uruguay asked. I am confident I will have trade promotion
authority by the end of the year, because I think most people in the
United States Congress understand that trade is beneficial in our
hemisphere. We're going to proceed concurrently with that,
parallel to that, with the trade agreement with Chile, and we hope to
have that concluded by the end of the year.
But I've assured my colleagues that my
administration will work to get trade promotion
authority. Most Presidents have had what they call fast
track; we now call it trade promotion authority. And I
intend to get it myself. It's in our nation's best interests
to have the President have that authority.
In the meantime as I mentioned to you, my
friend, the President of Chile, and I will instruct our respective and
appropriate members of our administration to hammer out, negotiate and
effect a trade agreement between our two countries.
Q President de la Rua,
the question is for President Bush, but I would also like your answer
if you will, Your Excellency. President Bush, the United
States Secretary of the Treasury gave direct financial aid to Mexico to
overcome the tequila crisis and to stop propagation to the rest of the
region. Given the economic financial crisis in Argentina is already
spreading to countries such Brazil, I'd like to know if the United
States plans to give direct financial aid to Argentina, as it did with
Mexico in the past.
PRESIDENT BUSH: It's too early to
make that determination. Having said that, Secretary of the
Treasury O'Neill, as well as others in my administration, are watching
closely the situation in Argentina. It is in our nation's
interest that the Argentine economy recover. That's
obviously in the interest of neighbors that it do so as
well. But we're watching very carefully, we're in touch with
your government on a regular basis, and we'll make the determinations
as to either bilateral aid, or additional aid through the international
financial institutions as the case merits.
Q President de la Rua.
PRESIDENT DE LA RUA: The support
given by the President of the United States and the Secretary of the
Treasury is of great value. And assistance to our country
has come through multilateral financial institutions and other
countries who have given us international guarantees. So
this has -- insure a fiscal solvency in my country.
There is no risk, in my opinion, of problems
in our country, this transitional problem in Argentina extending to
neighboring countries. Argentina, with international financial
institutions' help, will be meeting the IMF's criteria, and is
endeavoring in a very determined fashion to reduce the fiscal deficit
and to ensure fiscal solvency in every aspect. So there is no risk
that we need to be concerned about.
Q I am from a newspaper
in Mexico City, and I have a question addressed to President Bush and
to Prime Minister Jean Chretien. In Mexico, there is an
issue that is of great interest, and I'm referring now to the power
issue. I'd like to ask both of you, what is your view for
what would be a hemispheric-wide energy plan? What
commitments have you already reached, and what would be needed for such
a plan to be equitable as between producers and the great consumers of
power?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, first, if
Canadian suppliers and Mexican suppliers of energy and electricity are
looking for a market, they've found one in the United
States. We're short of energy. We need more
energy in our country. Much of what will be explored from
the exploration perspective will depend upon price. The
farther away you get from market, the deeper the waters, the higher the
price must be. But the price of energy is high enough to
spur exploration activities on both sides of our border.
What the United States can do is to provide
markets by better pipelines, across-border permitting, welcoming
supplies of natural gas, regardless of the country of
origin. We can work with our friends, the Mexicans, in the
south about the development of electricity. I have talked
with President Fox about that not only when I was in Mexico, but also
earlier this week, and will discuss this very issue with the Prime
Minister and the President right after this press conference.
Part of our issue is to make sure our
electricity grids are open enough to handle additional power, say, in
the western part of our state and obviously the western part of
Mexico. There is some very good news in our hemisphere, at
least as far as Americans are concerned, and that is that because of
technologies, the Canadians have developed vast crude oil resources in
what appeared heretofore to be crude oil that could not be recovered
from the ground in what they call tar pits, tar sands, and therefore,
Canada is going to be the largest exporter of crude oil to the United
States. That's good for our national security; it's good for
our economy.
There's a lot of work we can do
together. It is important for our hemisphere to not only
trade liberally, but to move energy throughout the hemisphere as
needed, and it starts with the cooperation between Mexico, Canada and
the United States.
PRIME MINISTER CHRETIEN: I don't
have much to add to that. I think that the market in the
United States is a great opportunity for Canada. Already, as the
President just said, we are the biggest exporter of oil to the United
States, and it will increase even more in the years to
come. We have a lot of natural gas in Canada at this
moment.
I remember at the time when I was Minister of
Energy, we had to sell our oil and gas in Canada to our consumers, to
give them a market. Now, we have a huge market there, but we
have to make sure that the development of these resources will be done
in a very effective way, that we have assured market. And we
do that, having all the time in mind -- we have to do that with the
mentality that we have to do these things in protecting the
environment. But there is a lot of opportunities, and we'll
be discussing that later on this afternoon.
Next?
Q This question is for
Mr. Bush. If Mr. Pastrana can react to it, too, and, Mr.
Chretien, if that's possible. Regarding the declaration
backing of the peace process in Colombia, Mr. Bush, would your
government be willing to take a more active role and participate in
this peace process? And how committed are you to the peace
process in Colombia?
PRESIDENT BUSH: We have funded Plan
Colombia, which is over $1 billion of U.S. taxpayers'
money. That's a very strong commitment. At this
summit, we laid out an additional Andean initiative of $880 million,
monies not only to go to Colombia, but the surrounding countries to
Colombia. Monies that recognize that not only is
interdiction important, but also we need to develop
infrastructure. We need to have sustainable crop replacement
programs.
So our country is committed to the
region. I believe firmly that President Pastrana is a strong
leader who is doing everything he can to bring the
peace. But it's going to be up to President Pastrana to make
the peace. Once he does so, we'll stand by his
side. And so our support has been strong, and it's been
consistent. And we'll continue to support our friend, the
democratically-elected leader of Colombia.
PRESIDENT PASTRANA: Thank you very
much for your question. Yes, I think that President Bush has
-- will resume what has been the help, $1.3 billion, the last
year. He talked about a near $1 billion for this next year
for what he has been calling the Andean Initiative.
More than money, we are asking
commerce. That's why we are asking the United States; that's
why we were asking Europe. And that's why President Bush is
committing in the extension of ATPA (Andean Trade Preference Act) and
the enhancement of ATPA, to try to get to really some preference that
will allow us to get more employment for our people.
I think that President Bush is also very
committed in drug addiction. I said yesterday to President Bush that a
drug addict is a drug terrorist. One smell of cocaine in the United
States is a death in Colombia. So that's why he's also very
committed in working and fighting inside the United
States. As you will know, the U.S. is expending nearly $20
billion in drug prevention programs. And he's really very
committed to bring also down consumption in his country.
And I think that we had a meeting in
Cartagena, the Andean countries, the ATPA countries, Colombia, Ecuador,
Peru, Bolivia. We invited Venezuela as an observer to the
ATPA. And we hope that with the help of President Bush and
with the help of the U.S. Congress, we will get the ATPA out before the
end of this year. And that will bring us new opportunities
for the poorest people of our country.
PRIME MINISTER CHRETIEN: And of
Canada, I've assured the President that if they need us to play a
certain role, we'll be available. There are some discussions
to have certain participation. And if we can be useful,
we'll be happy to help. Next question.
Q I'm one of the
Salvadoran journalists covering this summit. Could you give us details
regarding the negotiation of a free trade agreement with Central
America? In particularly, Mr. Bush, if you have in mind a
day to start negotiations? If you have in mind a date to
sign this agreement? And also if your administration is
going to give special treatment to those Central American economies?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Trade -- I'm sorry,
the very end of your question? Special trade --
Q Free trade agreement
with Central America.
PRESIDENT BUSH: My first meeting
here in Quebec City is with my -- actually, not my first meeting -- I
had a meeting early -- how quickly we forget -- with our friends from
Central America. And we talked about free
trade. And we talked about the possibilities of a free trade
agreement with a group of nations.
I did not dismiss that notion at
all. As a matter of fact, it should be clear to people that
as we discuss the agreement that we're discussing here at this summit,
that our nation is willing to work with others, such as Chile, to
negotiate bilateral agreements.
And so I'm open-minded, is the way to describe
that to you. And I think the leaders would tell you that we
had a very frank discussion, and it's very possible -- it's very
possible that we'll be able to come to an agreement with a group of
nations that would really make a logical extension from
NAFTA. So, to answer your question, I don't have a date
specific, but in my mind is the idea of that possibility.
Q Will you support, Mr.
Bush, any kind of special treatment for those Central American
economies in this agreement?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, that's what I
was saying. I would be very open-minded. As you
know, we're committed in your country to helping with natural
disasters. It's in our nation's interest that your good
country, with its brilliant young leader, be -- help
recover. It's going to be hard to have a good economic
vitality and growth without the aid necessary to help recover from the
natural disaster that took place. But I'm open-minded.
Let me just say something on behalf of my
government about el President de El Salvador. He is a breath
of fresh air. He is a very bright light. And I've
been most impressed by his candor, his leadership, his
integrity. He's a great leader for your country.
Q My question is for
Prime Minister Arthur -- and before I do, Mr. Arthur, you would be
happy to know that westerners aren't doing to bad in
Jamaica. Now, on the opening on Friday, you spoke of special
considerations for the Caribbean in the FTAA process. There
have been concerns about the OECD, IDB membership for some of the small
states. Going into the conference, what were the Caribbean community
and common market's primary concerns, and are you satisfied that the
outcomes address these concerns?
PRIME MINISTER ARTHUR: As I said at
the opening, we have committed ourselves to being part of the effort to
build a truly inclusive hemispheric community. And one of
our basic concerns, obviously, have been to ensure that our framework
is in place to accommodate the needs of these smaller, more vulnerable
entities within the community.
We are pleased that, as a result of the trade
ministers' negotiations in Argentina, we shall be embraced by heads of
this summit that there is a realistic framework in place for the
completion of the Free Trade Area of the Americas, and that even more
satisfying, that there are now clear mandates given to the individual
negotiating groups that would enable us to be sure that we will
translate the principle of special and differential treatment for
smaller or more vulnerable societies into the final agreement that will
anchor the Free Trade Area of the Americas.
The Caribbean was also concerned, having
participated in the two previous summits, about the adequacy of the
arrangements for implementation. I think we would be remiss
were we not to say how heartened we have been, ourselves, by the
statement of commitments given by the heads of the OAS, the
Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank -- to support our plan
of action with appropriate resources and new institutional
arrangements.
But you must believe me when I tell you that
for the Caribbean, we are excited by the prospect of translating our
human capital advantage into new industry in a new information
age. Nothing matters more to us than to be able to leave a
conference where there is a commitment to a plan of action to put the
new information and communications technology within the reach of the
people of the hemisphere, making it possible for us to contemplate a
future of specialization as service societies in our new
knowledge-based global society.
And for me, certainly, this connectivity
agenda that will share the benefits of that new technology to small
societies is an exciting opportunity that the Caribbean surely will not
miss out on.
PRIME MINISTER CHRETIEN: Thank you
very much, Prime Ministers. So this concludes the press
conference. There will be another one in a few minutes by
the officials representative of the regional banks and the World Bank
and the political organization of the Americas.
Thank you very much. See you next
time.
END
2:24 P.M. EDT
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