Bill Clinton

Remarks by President Zedillo at the signing ceremony for the OAS Hemispheric Arms Trafficking Convention

It must be allowed to continue.

We agreed to work together in the international negotiations on climate change.

My Administration is committed to enforcing the statutory restrictions on importation of firearms that do not meet the sporting purposes test.

We need more of that.

The economy is stronger; we have the lowest unemployment rate in 24 years; we have the lowest inflation rate in 30 years.

Saddam chose to expel the weapons inspectors from Iraq and, in so doing, to defy the United Nations.

We're showing the way of the 21st century world: democratic partners working together to improve the prosperity and security of all their people.

Today our 34 democracies are speaking with one voice, acting with one conviction, leading toward one goal, to stem the flow of illegal guns, ammunitions, and explosives in our hemisphere.

Today, you can't do very well in this world unless you've got a decent education.

I have signed into law today H.R. 2107, the 'Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998.'

This convention will neither discourage nor diminish the lawful sale, ownership, or use of guns, but it will help us to fight the unlawful trade in guns that contributes to the violence associated here in America with drugs and gangs.

I just am so grateful to have been given the chance to serve.

We have concluded negotiations in the Organization of American States of an hemispheric convention against illegal firearms trafficking.

These provisions clearly are an attempt to return to forest management by politics rather than science and full public participation.

The White House announced that the President and Hillary Clinton will spend the Thanksgiving Day holiday at Camp David, MD.

Gun trafficking is an issue of national security for all of us and a matter of neighborhood security for the Americas.

My Administration has moved away from past policies that primarily emphasized timber cutting at the expense of the environment and blatantly violated environmental laws.

We met to carry forward the mature partnership between our two governments, marked by mutual respect.

We will work to expand hemisphere-wide counternarcotics cooperation and to strengthen the Organization of American States' capacity to support this priority task.

We must do certain things as a nation: to create opportunity, demand responsibility, bring us together as a community, and preserve our leadership.

The Act also provides $111 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities.

I believe we can moderate health care costs and guarantee quality.

I am concerned that provisions in the Act will limit the ability of sovereign Alaskan tribes to exercise their self-determination as to how health services are provided.

It may sound like a little money, but a little money given to a school on a tight budget for this purpose can make all the difference in the world in the lives of a lot of our young people.