Bill Clinton: “Absolutely. But let me answer you with two points, if I might. First of all, last year, we, the leaders of the G-7…”

“Absolutely. But let me answer you with two points, if I might. First of all, last year, we, the leaders of the G-7, agreed that the conference had become too stilted, too formal, too bureaucratic, and in a sense, too expensive. We decided to pare it back some and make it more informal. So we begin tonight with a leaders-only dinner, with no set agenda, that is not dictated by staff work and driven toward a final statement that often has been the lowest common denominator. And through- out this meeting we will have more flexibility, more informality, and I think it will work very well. The former Prime Minister of Italy, Mr. Ciampi, very much wanted this kind of meeting, and when Prime Minister Berlusconi took office, he was eager to embrace this as more consistent with his own background in business. So I think you will see that this will be the beginning of something that will become a lean and more efficient operation. Now, secondly, does it affect Americans back home or Italians back home or Germans back home? I believe it does. If you look at what we did last year, we made a commitment, first, that we would try to finish the GATT round; we did that; second, that we would do everything we could to try to help integrate Russia and the other former Soviet republics into the mainstream of the world economy, and we are making progress on that. That has made a significant difference. And just since then, we have started working on things that world leaders never talked about with each other before, like education and training systems and how to have adaptable work forces. All these things have a direct bearing on the livelihoods of our people back home. So I think this is a very important and valuable forum. And I hope we will continue it but continue to make it as lean and efficient and as economical as possible. Haitian Refugees”