27 July 1998
TRANSCRIPT: ALBRIGHT, PRIMAKOV PRESS CONFERENCE IN MANILA JULY 27
(SecState says proliferation tops upcoming Summit agenda) (2150) Manila -- Secretary of State Albright says proliferation will top the agenda of the upcoming Clinton-Yeltsin Summit in Moscow, "not only because of the threat it poses to our security, but because of the special responsibility as nuclear powers to minimize the dangers weapons of mass destruction pose for the entire world." At a July 27 joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Yevgenyi Primakov prior to their meeting to discuss preparations for the US-Russia Summit in early September in Moscow, Albright said the success of these events should be measured by "progress we make in improving the lives of our people and in strengthening our security." Albright and Primakov were participating in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) conference in Manila. According to the Secretary of State, the US Summit agenda includes ways to reduce potential nuclear confrontation between India and Pakistan, Iran's recent missile tests, the NATO-Russia relationship and the situation in Kosovo. Following is the State Department transcript: (begin transcript) Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and Russian Foreign Minister Primakov Joint Press Conference Manila, Philippines, July 27, 1998 As released by the Office of the Spokesman U.S. Department of State SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I am happy as always to have this opportunity to meet with Foreign Minister Primakov. The basic purpose of our meeting tonight will be to prepare for the Moscow Summit which begins in five weeks. We will be following up on the discussions that took place Thursday and Friday between Vice President Gore and Prime Minister Kiriyenko which laid the ground work for what I think will be a very successful meeting between Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin. The very fact of the summit between our countries used to be seen as an achievement, but we have a mature partnership now. Its success is measured by the progress we make in improving the lives of our people and in strengthening our security. So my message tonight is that the American people are not just looking forward to another reunion between our Presidents; we are looking forward to the summit's results. At the top of our agenda will be proliferation, not only because of the threat it poses to our security, but because of the special responsibility as nuclear powers to minimize the dangers weapons of mass destruction pose for the entire world. We'll be talking about our efforts to encourage India and Pakistan to take concrete steps to meet the benchmarks that were set forth in Geneva by the P-5 and in London by the G-8. I will express my concerns about the recent missile test in Iran which underscored the urgency of our joint effort to prevent the flow of dangerous technology to that country. We'll be discussing European security and the NATO-Russia relationship. We will talk about Kosovo as well. The violence there has escalated tragically and we have to hold President Milosovic to the commitment he made to President Yeltsin. He must start working with the Kosovar-Albanians to stop the fighting. We have a great deal more to discuss today and in the weeks ahead -- from arms control to regional issues, to the Caucasus and Mediterranean, and to our economic relationship. And there is a lot of work to be done but by the same token, there will be many opportunities to make concrete progress. As always, I look forward to a good meeting with Foreign Minister Primakov and now I invite him to say a few words. MINISTER PRIMAKOV (through interpreter): I shall begin my remarks with reference to the final words mentioned by Secretary of State Albright. I also believe that our meetings are always useful, very interesting and very substantive. And we intend to discuss tonight a lot of questions, but all our discussions will be concentrated on the preparations for the coming summit meeting in Moscow which is to take place in early September. The meeting that Vice President Gore just held in Moscow with Prime Minister Kiriyenko and a telephone conversation that Vice President Gore had with President Yeltsin also marked the stage, a good stage, in preparations for the summit. Why are we mentioning at this great length the preparations for the summit? It is because every meeting between the leaders of the two countries has a very good significance for the intensification of bilateral relationship, for removing the obstacles that stand in the way of that intensification and for accelerating the process of bilateral dialogue. We attach very great importance to our relationship with the United States and that relationship is very significant for Russia. We lay so much stock by that relationship and President Yeltsin does the same -- not because it's just a relationship between two permanent members of the Security Council or a relationship between two nuclear powers -- but because it is a relationship between two states on the development of which depends a lot of things in various parts of the world. Thank you. QUESTION: Madam Secretary you talked about "bitter medicine" on your way here -- bitter medicine that would be required by countries trying to fight their way out of the economic crisis. I want to know -- you have been here for several days and had meetings -- have you seen any evidence that countries are willing to do that? And to the Foreign Minister, Russia has its own deep financial crisis, and I wonder if you think the government will be able to overcome the parliamentary resistance within your own country to meet these IMF tests. SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Let me say first of all that it is my sense that the countries assembled here are understanding the depth of their problems, and are exhibiting a willingness, I think, to deal with them in an honest and forthright way. Yesterday I met with Foreign Minister Obuchi -- and about, I guess, to be prime minister -- and he accepted what I said about the necessity for them to do something to stimulate the economy, to deregulate and to look at their banking system in a way to restructure it. I think he understood the importance of taking decisions that would not only affect Japan but would affect the entire region. We did also generally discuss the economic situations in the other countries in the region, and Mr. Obuchi was here for the day, yesterday, in order to understand fully the impact of the Japanese economy on those of the other nations. I think also we made quite clear, all of us, that while the situation is improving that it is very important for all the countries involved, including the United States who is trying to be of assistance, that the problems will not be resolved overnight and that consistent taking of the medicine is important. MINISTER PRIMAKOV (through interpreter): Most likely we too would have to swallow this bitter pill. The financial situation in the country is not fully stable, although it would seem to me that the mass media tends to exaggerate the difficulties that now stand in our way. It would seem that the program that has been drafted by the Russian government would open the way toward overcoming the difficulties that our country now has. I won't pass an ambiguous judgment on the stance taken by our parliament in the sense that it is fully in opposition to that program. There are several laws that are of great importance for the realization of the program and they have not yet been passed by the Duma, but I believe that there's still a likelihood of the Duma calling a special session. But in awaiting that outcome, the President through presidential decrees would be in a position to close that gap. We are now facing a difficult financial situation and we're trying to find a way out of that situation. And the surest way to accomplish that would be to modernize our internal resources. As far as the loans that were received from the International Monetary Fund and the loans that we expect to get from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, all those loans would be of stabilizing nature and would have a moral significance, would constitute a moral factor that would not contribute to capital flight, rather would attract more foreign investments to our country. Q: (through interpreter) To both ministers, please. What do both of the sides expect as concrete results coming out of this summit between Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin, and what agreements do you expect might be signed as a result of these meetings? MINISTER PRIMAKOV (through interpreter): I must say that such meetings between the leaders of the two countries that are on very satisfactory terms with each other, they are destined to succeed. But this is not to suggest that during that meeting the two Presidents will be able to cover the entire range of issues before them or to come to a shared conclusion on all those issues. Still, that summit will, I believe, be crowned with success and will mark a stage in the further development of bilateral relationship in the economic, political and other dimensions. And also we believe that in their discussions they will go beyond purely bilateral relationship and would also cover a lot of international problems among which are those which Secretary Albright covered in her introductory remarks. SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Let me say, I have now attended three summits between the two Presidents, and I can assure you, as Foreign Minister Primakov can also, that they are always very fruitful, and that the discussions range far and wide. We always do have a host of issues to discuss. There's no question that issues of nonproliferation will be on the agenda as well as economic and political issues as I said earlier. And we do expect there to be concrete results because these two Presidents don't need to get acquainted, they know each other very and they are able to achieve results when they get together. MINISTER PRIMAKOV (through interpreter): I don't think we two need any special preparation. I think we can hit the ground running right away. Q: Madam Secretary, you met this morning with your Chinese counterpart. In the weeks since President Clinton's visit to China, the Chinese government has arrested a large number of dissidents. Isn't the Administration alarmed or embarrassed by that? Can you tell us the nature of your conversation this morning on that issue? SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: We also, Foreign Minister Tang and I, had a wide-ranging discussion, and we talked about the successes of the summit which I think were great in terms of working towards developing a strategic partnership with China. We obviously talked about the nonproliferation issues and the problems posed by the explosions in South Asia. While we both consider -- and I especially -- one of the major successes of the President's trip was to raise human rights issues publicly in China in his appearance with President Jiang as well as at Beijing University and other places, I did raise our concerns about some of the recent arrests. We noted that certain people had been released, but I also made quite clear that arresting people is not the way that we see follow-through, so I can assure you that the subject was raised. I also did, however, say how pleased we were that the MFN -- now known as normal trade relations, NTR -- was accepted by Congress with a higher vote than previously, which I think signals generally the increasing acceptance of the fact that having a relationship with China in trade does not in any way change our stress on the importance of following through on the human rights agenda. Q: (Through interpreter) In terms of speaking about results, the fact that today the resolution was adopted, do you think that this resolution has an effect, or will effect, the overall international relations among countries and what which has been happening in South Asia? SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: From my perspective let me say that I think that it was very important that the subject of the explosions in South Asia was discussed among all the members of the ASEAN Regional Forum was very important. And the portion of the chairman's report relating to the subject we believe made all the important points and, I think, underlines the continuing concern of the international community for the actions taken by India and Pakistan, and points up again the need for them to become adherents to the CTBT and generally support the nonproliferation regimes that the rest of us are a part of. MINISTER PRIMAKOV (through interpreter): I feel that the Secretary of State gave a very detailed account of the way that subject was discussed and I fully share what she has just said. (end transcript)
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