THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of
the Press Secretary
(Lisbon, Portugal)
| For
Immediate Release |
May 30,
2000 |
PRESS BRIEFING BY
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION
OFFICIALS
ON PRESIDENT'S TRIP TO LISBON, PORTUGAL
Sheraton
Hotel
Lisbon, Portugal
4:35 P.M. (L)
MR. CROWLEY:
Good afternoon. We thought we would have two senior administration officials
come give you a bit of the story behind the story on today's meetings between
the Portuguese leaders and President Clinton. Senior official number one from
the National Security Council, and senior official number two from the National
Economic Council, but we'll do this ON BACKGROUND attributable to senior
administration officials.
Senior administration official number one.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thank you, Mr. Crowley. I like to say
Mister; I used to have to say Colonel. I thought what I would do is just run
you quickly through the meetings the President had with President Sampaio and
with Prime Minister Guterres. And my colleague will focus on the economic
aspects of both meetings. Let me run you mostly through the foreign policy
issues that were covered.
The President first met with President
Sampaio in a restricted meeting. Also present were Secretary Albright, Sandy
Berger, Ambassador McGowan and Steve Ricchetti. President Sampaio began with a
very eloquent review of recent Portuguese history, the last 26 years that have
taken Portugal from a dictatorship to democracy, from a relatively backward
country to one that's prosperous, from a country that was isolated to one
that's very much engaged in the world.
I think the President was very
struck by this review of recent history. He was struck by one of the facts that
President Sampaio relayed to him. President Sampaio said that when he was a
young man, 30 or so years ago, about 30,000 Portuguese were in the university
system. Today, with the same population base, 400,000 Portuguese are in the
university system. The President was very struck by this.
They talked
about Portugal's increasing international engagement in East Timor and the
Balkans and other places around the world. They focused some of their
discussion on East Timor, in particular the need to engage the East Timorese in
the reconstruction effort, and also the need to deal with the problem of
refugees in West Timor. They also talked at some length about Angola, and also
about the European Union's own evolution and the very important process it was
going through in enlarging. And the President reiterated his strong and very
consistent support for E.U. enlargement, and also for the E.U. more generally
and the European Monetary Union.
And the President also talked about
his hope and desire to engage in another WTO round starting this year, and my
colleague can talk more about that. With Prime Minister Guterres, the President
began in a restricted session again with Sandy Berger, Secretary Albright,
Ambassador McGowan, Steve Ricchetti on the American side. The Prime Minister
began by relaying his recent trip to Russia. He was just there, as I think you
know, on the weekend in his capacity as the President of the European Union.
They talked at some length about the trip. I don't want to go into too much
detail about what the Prime Minister said, but he did focus on a number of
particular issues that he discussed with President Putin; in particular, of
national missile defense, Chechnya and economic reform in Russia.
They
talked about the Balkans at some length, as well. Both agreed strongly on the
need to have Russia very much engaged in the process in the Balkans; the need
to work with the opposition in Serbia; also to enforce sanctions against
Serbia; and, in particular, to get the quick start projects that are part of
the stability pact up and running very quickly.
The President thanked
Prime Minister Guterres for the terrific cooperation we've had with Portugal,
particularly with regard to the Lajes Air Base. He thanked him for renewing the
base agreement. They discussed at some length, also, East Timor. Prime Minister
Guterres was recently there, he talked a little bit about his trip. And, again,
they focused on bringing the East Timorese more into the reconstruction process
and the administrative process.
They also talked about Angola. And the
President described our own efforts there with the bilateral consultative
commission that's trying to get the Angolans to engage in a peace process that
focuses on political reform and economic reform that reaches out to those
members of UNITA interested in making peace, that also focuses on enforcing
better U.N. sanctions and curbing the illegal diamond trade, which is funding a
lot of UNITA's activities.
They also touched on Sierra Leone. The
larger conclusion, I think, from this discussion was that they both agreed
there is a need to do even more to build up regional peacekeeping capacity in
Africa and in other hot spots around the world.
Finally, they took note
of the agreements that were signed, or will be signed today, between Portugal
and the United States. I think there are fact sheets that are either out or
coming out on all of those. Let me just briefly list them.
One is an
agreement to cooperate on combatting Malaria in Sao Tome. The President, at his
event this afternoon, will focus more on that; an Open Skies agreement that's
very important, that my colleague can talk about a little more; an agreement on
child support -- this is on alimony and child support recovery for Americans
and Portuguese; and, finally, a deportation protocol that's very important to
the Portuguese.
And with that, let me turn it over to my colleague to
run you through the economic aspects of today's meetings.
SENIOR
ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The President and the Prime Minister had fairly
lengthy discussions, in particular, at lunch, about some of the areas that are
shared personal priorities for them, which will be discussed further and
elevated further at tomorrow's U.S.-E.U. summit. In particular, in the area of
cooperation on African development, the Prime Minister referenced the E.U.
African summit which he had hosted earlier this year. As you know, that was an
unprecedented summit, and the President was extremely complimentary on the
importance of that summit for kicking off work in important areas and deepening
cooperation.
They talked about their shared commitment to development
in Africa, in particular through the debt relief initiative known as HIPC. Both
expressed the desire to see that work more smoothly, more quickly, to ensure
that reformers in Africa would be able to invest those important funds in areas
like education and health.
Secondly, the President noted the recent
passage of the African Growth and Opportunity Act as a key piece of our
development agenda towards Africa, and Prime Minister Guterres echoed how
important unilateral open market access is into the developed economies for
development in Africa.
And, finally, they talked at some length about
their joint agenda to address infectious diseases, in particular HIV/AIDS,
tuberculosis and malaria. As my colleague mentioned earlier, we are engaging in
bilateral cooperation with the Portuguese to eradicate malaria in Sao Tome in
particular, but at the U.S.-E.U. summit tomorrow, expect to have a broader
initiative that will very much carry forward to the G-8 and hopefully,
ultimately result in greater focus and greater resources being directed at this
health crisis.
The second area where they share a personal interest is
in the area of the new economy. There similarly, Prime Minister Guterres
earlier this year hosted what many refer to the "dot com summit," which for the
first time articulated a hard set of targets for the European Union to achieve.
He spoke of his own efforts within Portugal to hook up not only every school
and library, but also to get every home hooked up, reaching out in particular
to seniors, and the President spoke of his own initiatives in this area. And
they finally both spoke of the importance of the government providing a sort of
nurturing environment for the private sector to develop high-speed
interconnectiveness between Europe and the United States going forward.
They also foreshadowed, both in those discussions and in the
discussions with President Sampaio some of the discussions on the trade agenda
that no doubt will also arise tomorrow, the importance in particular of
launching a WTO round. They were also referencing some of the important
outcomes that we're hoping for tomorrow in the area, for instance, of data
privacy, in the area of trademarks, the Madrid Protocol, and third, in
launching the Biotechnology Consultative Forum.
And, of course, we'll
also expect that some of the areas where there are some disputes, some
frictions, will be raised tomorrow. Those were less of an issue today, but in
particular, the Foreign Sales Corporation tax dispute, the Airbus subsidization
issue and several of the other trade areas where there are ongoing frictions.
Q The President expressed a little bit of optimism that there might
actually be some resolution to some of these issues, particularly bananas and
beef. Is that in the cards, or is it just going to be more talk about --
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I would not anticipate there being any
breakthroughs tomorrow on any of the particular trade issues. I will say that
both sides have engaged in discussions in all of these areas.
We, for
our part, would very much like to see some of these longstanding issues
resolved. We have, for our part, endorsed the Caribbean proposals to end the
bananas dispute, and we would very much like to see the commission come around
on that. In the area of beef, we have put forward a number of proposals that we
think are quite constructive and really put the choice into consumers' hands,
allowing them to choose what kind of beef they want to buy. That hasn't worked.
So, as you know, we're a little bit -- we would like to see these disputes
resolved, and we would also like to make progress on the FSC case. We put a
proposal on the table which we deemed to be WTO consistent, both in law and in
fact, and have made clear that this is a framework on which we would want to
entertain discussions with the European Union.
Their response on that
has not been as forthcoming as we would have liked.
Q How likely will
you see the new sanctions mentioned last Friday, new sanctions against European
products in the beef and banana disputes?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION
OFFICIAL: I presume that you're talking about the carousel -- the
implementation of the carousel provision and the most recent trade legislation.
There, it's not new sanctions, there is no new retaliation, it is simply
implementation of a new law which requires us to engage in a public comment
notice to possibly shift the retaliation list from one set of products to
another periodically. And we have started that process by publishing a public
notice on that. I don't know whether that issue will come up.
Q Can
Briefer Number One shed any light on whether -- can you elaborate on any
impressions the Portuguese may have brought back from their meeting with Putin,
specifically about the NMD, which you mentioned?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION
OFFICIAL: Two things, I think, worth saying. First, the Prime Minister said
that he found President Putin extremely well prepared, well briefed, very much
into the details of everything that they discussed, and also very open to
talking about every subject on the broad agenda, and talking about things in a
very frank and open manner. He said he was struck by that.
On national
missile defense, suffice it to say that the Russians expressed concerns about
the possible decision to deploy a limited national missile defense system and
about the ABM Treaty, about START III -- don't want to go into any more detail
characterizing it.
The President repeated to Prime Minister Guterres
something that, of course, the Prime Minister knows, which is that the
President has not made a decision on -- if and when he does make a decision,
it'll be based on the criteria that I think you're all familiar with -- the
threat, the feasibility of the technology, the cost and, of course, the larger
impact on arms control. And to that I think it's important to emphasize that
what we've been doing with the Europeans over the last several months --
particularly in NATO, but also bilaterally -- is to engage in a very intensive
series of consultations and discussions, focusing on every aspect of this
problem. And this is something that has gone very, very well.
Q Could
you tell us whether the Portuguese also expressed concerns about the deployment
of the national missile defense?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No,
the Prime Minister didn't. He simply relayed what he had heard from President
Putin and didn't otherwise engage in a discussion of the subject.
Q Did
he relate --
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: That really wasn't the
tenor of the conversation. What he was, I think, trying to do was to convey to
the President what he'd heard from President Putin, not only on national
missile defense, but also on on a host of other subjects -- on the Balkans, on
economic reform, on Chechnya, et cetera.
Q So the Portuguese took no
official position on --
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: He did not take
a position with the President on it.
Q How long did this discussion
last -- the briefing, or debriefing, if you will, on --
SENIOR
ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: On Russia?
Q Exactly.
SENIOR
ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I didn't have the watch going. I would say probably
somewhere in the vicinity of 10 to 15 minutes; it was part of their restricted
session. They covered a number of things in that; that was probably about
almost half of the session, so 10 or 15 minutes.
Q Would it be accurate
to say that what President Putin expressed to the Prime Minister was consistent
with previous Russian statements? No change? No change?
SENIOR
ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yes. Yes, that's correct.
Q On the trade
issue, on the WTO round, or at least starting a WTO round, I think the European
Union has said they want to do it, but the U.S. is reluctant. Now you're saying
the U.S. wants to do it. Why do we have this discrepancy in the viewpoints?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: In fact, I think that both sides have
expressed their desire to move forward. And, in particular, we have made some
progress in the WTO in recent months. We have made progress in starting the
built-in agenda, the so-called built-in agenda, which are the discussions on
agricultural market opening and agriculture more generally; and, secondly, on
services. Both of those discussions are now up and running in the WTO.
The other area where we've made progress, working very closely with the
European Union, is to offer expanded market access to the least developed, in
the context of WTO discussions. And so there has been some progress and we will
continue working on issues such as that, even as we talk about what an agenda
for the round might me.
In terms of the agenda for the round,
obviously, we have some areas of priority in common and some areas of priority
that differ somewhat. And the question will be whether we can develop an agenda
that is broad enough and inclusive enough to include the interests of the
developing countries, as well as the major developed economies.
Q On
Chechnya, did what the Prime Minister -- heard from President Putin indicate
that there was any change or any softening or any progress on the Russian
position on Chechnya?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The Prime
Minister was struck by the fact that President Putin seemed to acknowledge to
him that there had to be a political solution to the problem in Chechnya. He
noted, and I believe he's actually stated on this on the record in the press
conference -- I haven't seen the transcript, but that's my understanding of
what happened from the Prime Minister -- he noted, President Putin noted that
some 100 Russian soldiers were soon to go on trial for alleged war crimes and
other atrocities.
He noted his support for an independent inquiry
commission. He also noted his support for an OSCE mission, although he said
that there were technical problems that need to be worked out. So the tenor of
what Guterres heard from President Putin was, as he described it, Putin being
quite open about the problems in Chechnya and the need to find a political
solution while, of course, strongly defending Russia's position on what it was
doing and why it was doing it.
Q On the discussions on Africa, was
there any talk about the role of diamonds in fomenting conflict?
SENIOR
ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yes. There was a discussion both with President
Sampaio and with Prime Minister Gutterres. They discussed the need to curb the
illegal diamond trade. They discussed the fact that this trade was helping, in
effect, to fund and fuel some of these conflicts, much the way narco
trafficking in different parts of the world was helping to fuel conflict there.
And there was an agreement on the need to look hard at what could be done to
better curb this illegal trade.
Q What exactly is this AIDS initiative
--
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Earlier this year, the
administration announced their intention to intensify efforts using a
four-pronged approach. One is an expanded bilateral funding of research into
these diseases for which no vaccines yet exist. And so there is a substantial
doubling, I believe, of our funds.
Second was a contribution to GAVI,
the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations. So we have pledged to try
to donate $50 million to GAVI. Again, there, the intention is to ensure that
existing vaccines are distributed broadly to those most in need.
Third,
that we would work to develop a private sector incentive to give the private
sector greater financial reward for engaging in research towards the
development of new vaccines for these diseases, because the diseases
disproportionately afflict those least able to pay for vaccines and so there is
not a sufficient market incentive.
And the fourth area is to work with
developing countries such as Uganda, for instance, where the political
commitment of the national government has made all the difference in turning
around the infection rate.
And that kind of a framework is one that I
believe the E.U. is also very comfortable moving forward on and we have worked
to develop a joint initiative in this area. Similarly, the Japanese, as hosts
of the G-8, have expressed a lot of interest in tackling this critical problem,
which is both an economic problem for many African countries and a health
problem.
Q Is there a number on the joint initiative? Is there a dollar
figure?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: There is no new dollar figure
on the U.S.-E.U. discussions. But I believe through this initiative, through
discussions at the G-8 and more generally, we will begin to see a little bit of
a snowball effect in terms of the industrialized governments putting up money
against these goals.
Q Do you expect some sort of joint statement,
then, tomorrow, saying we're going to bring this unified approach to the G-8
and hopefully get the rest of the G-8 nations to sign on it?
SENIOR
ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I do expect there to be some kind of a joint statement
of the aims on this. I don't think it will be G-8 focused; it's U.S.-E.U.
focused.
Q Back on Chechnya for a moment. What is the United States'
assessment of what Mr. Putin said in Moscow? Does this represent progress or --
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Let me defer on that to later briefers.
I don't want to characterize it, I just wanted to really convey what was said,
but not -- thanks.
Q The President made a reference in his opening
remarks today to stability in the Balkans. What exactly will he be telling the
E.U. people tomorrow that needs to be done there?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION
OFFICIAL: Well, I think a number of things. First of all, and most broadly, a
need to continue to move forward on the stability pact. There was a very
encouraging donors' conference recently, where a number of commitments were
made to quick start projects. These are projects that would really bring a
tangible difference quickly into people's lives.
I think one of the
things the President will focus on is the need to actually quickly start these
quick start projects and get the funding there, so that they can move forward
and so that people can really begin to feel a change in their day-to-day lives.
That's for the region more broadly.
More specifically, and more focused
on other areas -- in Kosovo -- no doubt he will talk about the need to sustain
our commitment there, the Europeans sustain their commitment. I think he will
point to the strong improvement in burden sharing in Kosovo that we've seen in
recent months. He'll also talk about the need to fully fund the activities of
the U.N. mission there. We've done better on that, but there is still a budget
shortfall that will need to be made up; and also to get more police into the
region, to get more judges, civil administrators, et cetera.
Finally, I
suspect he will talk about the need to keep sanctions strongly in place against
Serbia and to continue to isolate Mr. Milosevic, restate his conviction. But,
ultimately, we won't see a democratic Serbia until there is a change in the
government in Serbia.
Q For the past two weeks, European leaders have
been engaged
MR. CROWLEY: We'll make this the last question, I think
the President is about to speak. He is speaking? All right. We'll cut it off at
this point.
END 4:58 P.M. (L) |
