Bill Clinton: “Good afternoon. It's a great pleasure for me to welcome the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr. Keating, to Washington and…”

“Good afternoon. It's a great pleasure for me to welcome the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr. Keating, to Washington and to have this opportunity to make a couple of statements and then answer some of your questions. Despite that vast ocean which separates us, Australia and the United States share essential values and interests rooted in our frontier heritages, our shared commitment to democracy, our status as Pacific trading nations, and our efforts across the years to ensure and strengthen our common security. It's a pleasure for me to have the opportunity to personally reaffirm those bonds today. The Prime Minister and I exchanged views on a wide variety of issues. I'd like to emphasize the importance of one in particular, the Uruguay round of multilateral trade negotiations. We agreed that strengthening GATT's trade rules is a top priority for both our countries. As a founder of the Cairns Group of free trading agricultural nations, Australia is working closely with us to bring the Uruguay round to conclusion this year. So that we can achieve agreement this year, the Prime Minister and I strongly urge the European Community not to reopen the Blair House accord on agricultural trade as has been suggested. We need to move forward, not backward, to complete the round and to give the world economy a much-needed boost. We also discussed the importance of economic relations in the new Pacific community that both our nations are committed to help build. We discussed the building blocks of that community: bilateral alliances, such as the one we share; an active commitment to supporting the spread of democracy; and support for open and expanded markets. We discussed the important role of the Organization for the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation, APEC. Both the U.S. and Australia are members. Both of us have been active proponents of regional trade liberalization. And I look very much forward to working with Prime Minister Keating to make the November APEC ministerial meeting and the leaders conference in Seattle, Washington, a big success. Australia and the United States also share mutual security interests. Australia has been our ally in every major conflict of this century. Today we share an interest in bolstering the region's security and in supporting its movement toward democracy. I expressed my particular admiration for the crucial role Australia has played in fashioning and implementing the international effort to promote reconciliation in Cambodia. I told the Prime Minister that we look forward to many similar partnerships in the years ahead. This meeting was to have occurred yesterday, but Prime Minister Keating and I agreed that we should delay it because of the signing of the Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. That historic breakthrough reminds us that we live in a momentous time when the old walls of division are falling and new vistas are opening. Our success in seizing these opportunities will depend in large measure on how well the community of democracies can respond to work together towards shared goals. Today this meeting with the Prime Minister reaffirms that our two nations will continue to work together closely to turn the promise of this era into reality. Mr. Prime Minister. Prime Minister Keating. Thank you, Mr. President. Well, I'd like to say firsthand that our meeting was most worthwhile, from my point of view and Australia's point of view, for the quality of our discussions. And our close agreement on a wide range of issues I think demonstrates the vitality and the relevance of the Australia-U.S. relationship at a time of great change internationally. Let me say, I'm very favorably impressed by the vigor and imagination with which the President and his team are addressing the new challenges we now face in the world. Australia is a country which puts great importance on its relationship with the United States. Our longstanding friendship which the President has just referred to is based on shared values of democracy and freedom. And as he remarked, we fought in five major conflicts together over the course of this century. And in the post- cold-war period, I'm happy to say that our alliance remains very strong, indeed. In commerce and diplomacy we do a great deal together. I was impressed in our discussions today by the priority which now attaches to fundamental questions of international trade structures. I welcome the strong support that President Clinton has given to APEC as an organization for promoting trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific area. I congratulated him on his truly historic initiative of inviting other APEC leaders to join him at an informal meeting in Seattle this November. This will allow APEC leaders to discuss ways of moving towards an Asia-Pacific community which brings benefits of closer economic integration to all members. This step also recognizes the increased importance of the Asia Pacific in world affairs. We agreed on the importance of achieving a successful and balanced outcome of the Uruguay round by the mid-December deadline. No other joint action by governments this year could do more to boost the prospects of world growth and jobs, both subjects which the President and I are intensely interested. We agreed that any move by the European Community to reopen the Blair House accord on agriculture seriously risks jeopardizing the whole Uruguay round. The Blair House accord already represents a minimum outcome acceptable to those countries seeking to establish fair rules of trade for agriculture. Finally, I should like to thank the President for his gracious hospitality and to congratulate him on the leadership he is showing on the United States international and domestic agendas. Mr. President, thank you very much for having us in the White House from Australia. And we appreciated the arrangements, particularly the difficulties of the--the opportunity presented by signing the Middle East accords and the arrangements today. It's been great to be here with you.”