Bill Clinton: “The President met today jointly with President Lennart Meri of Estonia, President Algirdas Brazauskas of Lithuania, and…”

“The President met today jointly with President Lennart Meri of Estonia, President Algirdas Brazauskas of Lithuania, and President Guntis Ulmanis of Latvia. It was the President's first meeting with the heads of state of the Baltic countries. The President expressed his admiration for the remarkable progress the Baltic peoples have achieved during the last 2 years in establishing democratic institutions and promoting economic reform. The President assured them of the strong U.S. interest in building close relations. The President reaffirmed U.S. support for reform and indicated the U.S. would move forward promptly on the new $50 million Baltic-American Enterprise Fund. The President also stated the United States intended to construct 5,000-7,000 housing units in Russia to facilitate the withdrawal of Russian forces from Estonia and Latvia. The President welcomed the recent withdrawal of all Russian military forces from Lithuania. He also reiterated strong U.S. support for the early, unconditional, and rapid withdrawal of the remaining Russian forces from Latvia and Estonia. The President noted that he had raised this matter in a number of recent discussions with Russian Federation leaders. The United States intends to be helpful to all parties concerned in promoting an amicable resolution of the withdrawal issue.…”