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I have authorized these measures in re- The measures I am taking are designed sponse to the relentless threat posed by sig- to deny these traffickers the benefit of any nificant foreign narcotics traffickers centered assets subject to the jurisdiction of the Unit- in Colombia to the national security, foreign ed States and to prevent United States per- policy, and economy of the United States. sons from engaging in any commercial deal- Narcotics production has grown substan- ings with them, their front companies, and tially in recent years. Potential cocaine pro- their agents. These measures demonstrate duction—a majority of which is bound for firmly and decisively the commitment of the the United States—is approximately 850 United States to end the scourge that such metric tons per year. Narcotics traffickers traffickers have wrought upon society in the centered in Colombia have exercised control United States and beyond. The magnitude over more than 80 percent of the cocaine and dimension of the current problem war- entering the United States. rant utilizing all available tools to wrest the Narcotics trafficking centered in Colombia destructive hold that these traffickers have undermines dramatically the health and well- on society and governments. being of United States citizens as well as the William J. Clinton domestic economy. Such trafficking also The White House, harms trade and commercial relations be- October 21, 1995. tween our countries. The penetration of le- gitimate sectors of the Colombian economy NOTE: This message was released by the Office by the so-called Cali cartel has frequently of the Press Secretary on October 23. permitted it to corrupt various institutions of Colombian government and society and to The President’s News Conference disrupt Colombian commerce and economic With President Boris Yeltsin of development. Russia in Hyde Park, New York The economic impact and corrupting fi- nancial influence of such narcotics trafficking October 23, 1995 is not limited to Colombia but affects com- President Clinton. We don’t have pre- merce and finance in the United States and pared statements, but we will each make a beyond. United States law enforcement au- very brief statement and then we’ll take a thorities estimate that the traffickers are re- couple of questions. sponsible for the repatriation of $4.7 to $7 This was our eighth visit as heads of state. billion in illicit drug profits from the United It was a good and productive one which em- States to Colombia annually, some of which phasized the stability and the strength of the is invested in ostensibly legitimate busi- partnership between the United States and nesses. Financial resources of that mag- Russia. nitude, which have been illicitly generated We spent the vast majority of our time dis- and injected into the legitimate channels of cussing Bosnia, and we reached complete international commerce, threaten the integ- agreement about how we would work to- rity of the domestic and international finan- gether for peace there. We reached agree- cial systems on which the economies of many ment on the importance of the involvement nations now rely. of Russia and the other Contact Group part- For all of these reasons, I have determined ners in the peace process. On the question that the actions of significant narcotics traf- of what our roles would be in the implemen- fickers centered in Colombia, and the unpar- tation of a peace agreement, we made some alleled violence, corruption, and harm that progress, and we agreed that our representa- they cause in the United States and abroad, tives, Secretary Perry and Minister Grachev, constitute an unusual and extraordinary would continue to work on this in the coming threat to the national security, foreign policy, days, literally in just a matter of days. and economy of the United States. I have, We discussed a number of other issues. accordingly, declared a national emergency I think I should mention three very briefly. in response to this threat. First, we agreed that we would both push

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hard for the ratification of START II. Sec- issues, not just those that affect our two ond, we agreed that we would continue our countries but that affect all the countries of close cooperation on nuclear security, and we the world. Bill neglected to say we also came have a statement that we have already agreed to terms on the flank limits that have been on prepared by our experts which will be re- placed. And I want to say a big, big thank- leased today. And finally, we agreed—and you to Bill for supporting us so strongly on this is very, very important—that we would this score. work together to succeed in getting a zero- I want to say a big, big thank-you, Bill, yield comprehensive test ban treaty next for inviting me here to this most magnificent year. This is a major, major step, and it dra- site. If all of you look around you, look be- matically increases the chances of our success hind you—the most incredible scenery—you for a sweeping comprehensive test ban treaty will find this a most lovely place to host such in 1996. And I want to thank President a meeting. I want to thank Bill from the bot- Yeltsin for that. tom of my heart, to bow my head before all Mr. President. of the people, the people who work here, President Yeltsin. Dear ladies and gentle- who support this wonderful museum, the men, dear journalists: I want to say, first of staff who made this visit so wonderful, all all, that when I came here to the United of you who support not only the museum States for this visit at the invitation of the but also the persona, the personality of Presi- President of the United States, Bill Clinton, dent Roosevelt, the one who was a personal- I did not at that time have the degree of ity not only for the United States but for all optimism with which I now am departing. the peoples of the world for all time. I do And this is all due to you because, coming want to bow my head and thank all of you from my statement yesterday in the United for this wonderful occasion. Nations, and if you looked at the press re- So with this, I want to stop with my intro- ports, one could see that what you were writ- ductory remarks. We’ll have just a couple of ing was that today’s meeting with President questions. And as soon as we start we’re Bill Clinton was going to be a disaster. going to finish, so very short. First question [Laughter] Well, now for the first time, I can to the President of the United States. tell you that you’re a disaster. [Laughter] President Clinton. Be sure you get the Bosnia right attribution there. [Laughter] Q. Mr. President, could you tell us what President Yeltsin. This proves that our progress—— partnership is not calculated for one year or Q. Could you tell us—— for 5 years but for years and years to come— Q. Could you tell us, Mr. President— tens of years, for a century; that we’re President Yeltsin, are Russians now willing friends, and that it’s only together, together to work under the command and control of we’re going to be trying to solve not only NATO in a peacekeeping mission in Bosnia? our joint bilateral issues but issues affecting And then a followup for President Clinton. the whole world. President Clinton. I understand that, but How many journalists’ brains are used to let me just say first, we agreed that it was constantly try to figure out what kinds of dif- important for Russia to participate in the im- ferent versions and options the two Presi- plementation of the agreement. We dis- dents are going to try to come up with re- cussed some specifics on which we were in garding Bosnia? I can’t say that your brains accord and some on which we agreed that turned out to be useless—[laughter]—of we had to let our defense experts work. And course, you also helped us, and we are grate- we decided that we would say nothing here ful. And so you did help us because when which would make their work any harder Bill and I sat down to look at the different than it already is. options, we used even some of your seem- ingly most unbelievable options. [Laughter] Russia-U.S. Relations Bill said also that we agreed on nuclear Q. Mr. Clinton, as the Russian press, we’d disarmament. We agreed on a whole host of like to ask you the following question. You

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were saying that not only has it not caved most understandable meeting, not only for in, our partnership has not caved in but it each other but for all the people of the world. has become stronger and better. Does that And we discussed individual positions; indicate that Russia and the United States then we arrived at common positions. And will be for the future generations the guaran- I must say that this kind of meeting is not tor of peace, that there will be no wars? an official summit, it is a working meeting; President Yeltsin. With the faith of two but this most successful working meeting is big Presidents like us, our faith is getting worthy of meetings that would last hundreds stronger. And with this faith, it means that of days, and these big issues, global issues, we have decided that there shall be no dis- that affect the lives of all the peoples on this agreement between our two countries, that planet. our partnership will, in fact, be strengthened, President Clinton. I’ll take one more and having this faith means that we will move question, but I’d like to say something about into the future toward peace, either with no your question as well. If I could speak di- war or a minimum of war. rectly to the Russian people, I would say that the United States and Russia have estab- Bosnia lished an important partnership. It’s a part- Q. Could we get the answer to President nership of mutual respect, based on a shared Yeltsin’s original question, and that is wheth- commitment to democracy, a shared commit- er or not he could ever accept the idea of ment to working for the prosperity of the Russian forces being under a NATO com- Russian people, and ultimately a partnership mand? And for those of us in this country which helps us both economically and, per- who’ve followed this dispute, it is difficult to haps most important, working together to understand how you could have made make the 21st century a time of greater peace progress given how different your positions and greater freedom and greater prosperity have been in the past, and especially after for all the people of the world. what you said at the United Nations yester- That is the larger truth in which all these day. issues should be seen. That is why we have President Yeltsin. We agreed today that made such remarkable progress in dealing Russian armed forces will participate in these with the nuclear issues. There is no relation- operations. But how they go about doing it ship between two human beings, much less is the affair of the military; it is not a question two countries, with their own unique his- for us two Presidents. We have done our task. tories, their own unique aspirations, their own unique fears and understandings, that Russia-U.S. Relations does not have occasional differences of opin- Q. How would you characterize, President ion. That would happen in any friendship, Yeltsin, the way the talks went today, as a in any marriage, in any business; certainly it whole, in general? will happen between two countries. But if President Yeltsin. When I came here I we keep the larger truth in mind, we will thought we were going to have very, very be able to work together and sustain this tough meetings. I was not looking forward partnership. And it is very important for our to the very difficult, complicated discussions. people and for the people of the world that I had a lot of apprehensions. However, on we do so. my way here, I flew into Paris, had detailed Interpreter. Thank you very much. talks with Jacques Chirac. On the phone I President Clinton. They cut it, sorry. had discussions with Helmut Kohl. I met also President Yeltsin. Thank you. very actively with other leaders. President President Clinton. Well, I promised him Bill Clinton was very active in meeting with one more. Go ahead. Boris—President world leaders. Yeltsin insisted that an American have the And in spite of the forecasts that said that last question, so go ahead. this would be a breakdown, that this would Q. Mr. President, members of your admin- not be a success, this turns out to be today istration said coming into this meeting that the friendliest meeting, the best meeting, the a Bosnia peacekeeping operation in which

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Russian forces were not under NATO com- achieve these objectives, including the rap- mand and control or there was some type idly growing range of cooperative activities of dual key arrangement wouldn’t work. Is being pursued jointly by US and Russian ex- that still the U.S. position? perts. The Presidents noted with satisfaction President Clinton. Our position is that that bilateral and multilateral cooperation in we’re going to have an operation that works. these areas has grown rapidly over the past We want Russia to be involved in it. We year and includes joint activities on law en- made some progress today consistent with forcement, customs, intelligence liaison and both of our objectives, with neither side giv- on-the-ground cooperation to improve nu- ing up the things that were most important clear materials security at ten sites, protect- to it. We made some progress today on that. ing tons of nuclear material. The Presidents And we recognized that some of the things also welcomed cooperative efforts to improve that needed to be decided neither of us could the security of nuclear weapons in transport in good conscience decide without giving our or storage in connection with their dis- military leaders the chance to work through mantlement. that. So we agreed that this week—this The two Presidents welcomed the joint re- week—our military leaders would keep port on steps that have been accomplished working. and additional steps that should be taken to That is all I can tell you; the more we say ensure the security of nuclear materials, pre- about it, the worse it will be. We are moving pared by the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commis- toward peace. The first and most important sion in implementation of the May 10 sum- thing is, make peace in Bosnia. That has not mit declaration on nonproliferation. This re- been done yet. If that happens—and we port outlines current and planned U.S.-Rus- hope it will, and we’ve agreed on that com- sian programs of bilateral cooperation that pletely, how we will approach it—then we will result in broad improvements in nuclear have the responsibility to work together to materials security, including several impor- make the peace work. And we will do that. tant sites with weapons-usable nuclear mate- President Yeltsin. I want to add, you are rial, increased security for nuclear weapons underestimating the Presidents of two such in connection with their dismantlement, and great powers. Maybe something didn’t quite construction of a safe and secure long-term reach you. Maybe you can’t quite figure out storage facility for fissile material from dis- how we can solve it, but it came to us; it mantled weapons. The Presidents endorsed reached us. speedy implementation of these plans and di- rected that they be expanded and accelerated NOTE: The President’s 104th news conference to the greatest extent possible. began at 3:44 p.m. on the front steps of the Frank- lin D. Roosevelt home. In his remarks, he referred NOTE: An original was not available for verifica- to Russian Minister of Defense Pavel Grachev. tion of the content of this statement. President Yeltsin spoke in Russian, and his re- marks were translated by an interpreter. Remarks to the AFL–CIO Convention in New York City Joint Statement With President October 23, 1995 Yeltsin on Nuclear Materials Security October 23, 1995 The President. Thank you very much for the wonderful welcome. Thank you, Tom, for Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin noted the the great introduction. I wish I’d been here importance they attach to ensuring the secu- to hear it. [Laughter] But I appreciate it. rity of nuclear weapons and nuclear mate- You know, I’ve taken so many controversial rials, maintaining effective control over them, positions in the last 3 years, I thought I’d and combating illegal trafficking in nuclear come here and tell you what you ought to materials. They underscored their strong do in this election. [Laughter] You should support for the efforts underway in the Rus- elect—listen to this—you ought to elect an sian Federation and the United States to Irish-American from the Bronx who comes

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