*EPF301 08/23/00
White House Report, Wednesday, August 23, 2000
(Mexico, Colombia, Nigeria, stem cell research for U.S./world) (1270)

CLINTON PREVIEWS MEETING WITH MEXICO'S PRESIDENT-ELECT AUGUST 24

In a question and answer session with reporters in the Rose Garden of the White House August 23, Clinton was asked, following a domestic announcement, what he hoped for from his August 24 meeting at the White House with Mexico's President-elect Vicente Fox.

Clinton said: "Well, first of all, I want to get to know him and I want to reaffirm the support of the United States, which I think is bipartisan, for good strong relationships with Mexico; the need for us to work together to deal with the drug challenge, our common environmental challenges along the border, and to make our trade relationship work for both sides. And so, obviously, I hope that there will be long-term economic benefits.

"I think he is quite serious about modernizing the Mexican economy and moving forward with our relationship, and I've been impressed with what I've seen and heard about him so far, and I'm anxious to meet him and do what I can to get our relationship off to a good start."

Asked about President-elect Fox's talk of open borders between the United States and Mexico, Clinton said he wants "to hear what he has to say about it and how we would go about dealing with the problems that we have with the trade arrangement we have now, whether they would be amplified.

"In general, I think there will be increasing interdependence of the world's economies over the next decade; increasing interdependence in our region. You know, I believe we should have done more with South America. We got the Caribbean Basin Trade Initiative, which I think is good. We got the relationship with Mexico, which I think has been a net plus for the United States both economically and politically. We didn't extend our trade agreements to the rest of South America, and I think that the Europeans have benefited at our expense. So I think there will be more interdependence and the United States has to be a part of that. But like everything else, the devil is always in the details here, so I want to talk to him about it and see what he has in mind. I would imagine most of this work would have to be done by the next administration."

CLINTON ON WAIVER TO PERMIT AID TO COLOMBIA TO BEGIN FLOWING

Asked to comment on his August 22 signing of a waiver so that U.S. aid can begin flowing to Colombia, even though Colombia has not met all the human rights conditions specified by the U.S. Congress, Clinton said:

"I did it because I believe (Colombia's) President Pastrana is committed to dealing with the human rights issues, about which we're still very concerned. He has submitted legislation to the Colombian parliament, for example, for civil trials, for allegations of military abuses of human rights. And we also have a system in place for specific, case-by-case investigation of serious allegations.

"So I think that we've protected our fundamental interests in human rights and enabled Plan Colombia to have a chance to succeed, which I think is very, very important for the long-term stability of democracy and human rights in Colombia and for protecting the American people and the Colombian people from the drug traffic."

Asked if he were not sabotaging human rights in favor of the money, Clinton said "No. No. The money is designed to help combat the drug trafficking and to help alleviate a lot of the social problems, to help to develop alternative economic development, and also to build the civil institutions in Colombia which will help to protect human rights.

"So what I did," Clinton said, "was to permit Plan Colombia to go forward and to be implemented because I'm convinced that the President (Pastrana) is committed to the proper course on human rights -- he's submitted legislation which is evidence of that -- and because we haven't given up our ability to look into case-by-case allegations of human rights violations dealing with specific military units who can be kept from getting any of this assistance if they have in fact committed human rights violations."

CLINTON SAYS HE WILL DISCUSS OPEC WHILE IN NIGERIA

Asked whether he will discuss OPEC petroleum output on his upcoming visit to Nigeria, Clinton responded that he was "reviewing the situation last night. And yes, I will discuss it with Nigeria, but we have to look at where there is excess capacity.

"Part of this is a question of whether the OPEC nations can increase their production. Part of the problem is coming because there's now renewed economic growth elsewhere in the world, and it seems to me, just looking at all the numbers over the long run, we're going to -- we'll get some benefit out of that; that is, I expect you'll see a significant increase in American exports over the next six months to two years, because of the increasing growth in other parts of the world. But as a result of that -- it's putting more pressure on the oil supplies that are available.

"So, you know, I'm going to do what I can to keep these prices moderated and to continue to argue to all the OPEC nations that if the price gets too high, they will cause recession in other countries and then the supply -- the purchases will drop dramatically and for a longer period of time. They're much better off with a price that's below where it is now, but one that can be sustained. They don't want to go down to $13 to $15 a barrel again, but -- we don't need it -- you know, it needs to be, I think, in the low 20s somewhere. I think the low- to mid-20s is a more sustainable rate, and so I will clearly discuss it with (Nigerian) President Obasanjo and with others in the weeks ahead."

CLINTON ON FEDERALLY FUNDED RESEARCH ON STEM CELLS

Asked to explain his administration's decision to support federally funded stem cell research, and whether he is worried about the controversy involved in that decision, Clinton responded that the potential to change the health future for Americans as well as for people around the world "is breathtaking."

This research, he said, has "potentially staggering benefits" for curing a wide variety of ailments, from birth defects to Parkinson's Disease, to Alzheimers, to diabetes, to certain kinds of cancers, spinal cord injuries, and burns, anything where a regeneration of cells is required.

"Secondly, these guidelines were not put out without a rigorous scientific review. And the human embryo research deals only with those embryos that were, in effect, collected for invitro fertilization that never will be used for that. So I think that the protections are there. The most rigorous scientific standards have been met.

"Just in the last couple of weeks you've had story after story after story of the potential of stem cell research to deal with these health challenges. And I think we cannot walk away from the potential to save lives and improve lives, to help people literally get up and walk; to do all kinds of things we could never have imagined, as long as we meet rigorous ethical standards. And I'm convinced, and (Health and Human Services) Secretary Shalala is convinced that that has been done."

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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