US FOREIGN POLICY/ALBRIGHT

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FILE ID:97061004.txt
DATE:06/10/97
TITLE:10-06-97  TEXT:  SECRETARY OF STATE AT CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN MOBILE

TEXT:
(Foreign policy affects quality of life for Americans) (2210)

Mobile -- True to her promise to bring foreign policy issues to
ordinary Americans, Secretary of State Albright was in Mobile, Alabama
June 8 emphasizing the importance of maintaining a "first-class
diplomacy" to serve the United States.

At a Chamber of Commerce dinner, Albright emphasized that "the success
or failure of American foreign policy is not only relevant to our
lives; it will be a determining factor in the quality of our lives."

Bringing the message closer to home for the people of Alabama, she
pointed out that in their state one out of five businesses is an
exporter. In port cities such as Mobile, exports are linked directly
or indirectly to 100,000 jobs.

She noted the Clinton Administration's success in promoting prosperity
through American foreign policy. "Since 1993, more than 200 trade
agreements have been negotiated, causing exports to soar and creating
an estimated 1.6 million new jobs nationwide," Albright said.

Emphasizing that resources are critical to promoting American foreign
policy, she urged that Americans "meet the responsibility we have in
our time, as others have had in theirs, not to be prisoners of
history, but to shape history" and to "make the investments that will
protect our citizens, secure our freedoms, preserve our values and
serve our interests through the remaining years of this century and
into the next."

Following is the State Department text, as delivered:

(begin text)

REMARKS BY SECRETARY OF STATE MADELEINE K. ALBRIGHT
TO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE DINNER
June 8, 1997

Thank you all very much, Mr. Chairman, for that terrific and candid
introduction. Senator Sessions, President Hallett, Chairman Saunders,
Jack Ravan, Reverend James, members of the Chamber, people of Mobile
-- thank you very, very much for all for your hospitality. I was born
abroad, came of age in Denver, and work in Washington, but after
today, I feel very, very much at home here in Mobile. Thank you all
very much.

And thank you for sharing Sonny Callahan. He is known in Washington,
as he is here, as a true and effective champion of Alabama interests
and American interests. And I would say that even if he were not
chairman of the subcommittee that controls half my budget.

Chairman Callahan and I do not always agree, as he said, but I think
it is fair to say we agree on the most important things, including the
need for continued American leadership around the world.

Earlier today, I spoke at the commencement of the University of South
Alabama -- USA. Almost regardless of what careers those young
graduates choose, they will live global lives. They will compete in a
global marketplace. Their jobs may depend on the vigor of overseas
trade.

And the security of their families will be influenced by whether we
are able to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, whether we can stop
small wars from growing into large ones, and whether we can win the
fight against international terror, crime, drugs and disease.

Considering all this, it should be clear. The success or failure of
American foreign policy is not only relevant to our lives; it will be
a determining factor in the quality of our lives.

And to protect American interests in the years ahead, we will need a
full range of foreign policy tools.

That is why our armed forces must remain the best-led, best-trained,
best-equipped and most respected in the world (Applause). And as
President Clinton has pledged, and our military leaders ensure, they
will.

It is also why we need first-class diplomacy. At their most effective,
force and diplomacy complement each other. And there will be many
occasions, in many places, where we will rely on diplomacy to protect
our interests, and we will expect our diplomats to defend these
interests with skill, knowledge and spine.

But we cannot do that without resources, Sonny. You didn't think you
would be invited here and not hear that, did you?

It costs money to inspect a nuclear facility in North Korea or Iraq;
or to dismantle and dispose of nuclear materials safely from the
former Soviet Union. It takes money to help our partners build peace
and democracy and to defeat transnational crime.

That is why I hope you will support -- and make it easy for your
Congressman to support -- the President's request to fund our
international affairs programs.

The amount for everything, from building democracy to fighting the war
against drugs to promoting the overseas sale of Alabama poultry,
equals about one percent of our total budget. But that one percent may
determine 50 percent of the history that is written about our era; and
it will affect the lives of 100 percent of the American people.

Today, American foreign policy is dedicated to three central goals:

First, we strive to keep our people safe by defending against threats
to ourselves, our allies and friends.

Second, we work to keep our people prosperous by creating an
ever-expanding global economy in which American genius and
productivity receive their due.

And third, we are determined to keep our people free by promoting the
principles and values upon which America's democracy and identity are
based.

Today, as a result of American diplomatic and military leadership from
Administrations of both parties, our citizens are safer than at any
time in memory.

Russian warheads no longer target our homes, and nuclear weapons have
been removed from elsewhere in the former Soviet Union.

North Korea's nuclear weapons program has been frozen and will be
dismantled.

Iraq's Saddam Hussein remains trapped in a strategic box, unable to
threaten Iraq's neighbors or us.

In Asia, we are building with allies and friends a community of
nations based on common interests and a shared commitment to peace.

And in Europe, we are making progress towards a continent that is
wholly united, peaceful and free. We are working with our NATO allies
to adapt our great alliance to new missions and to include new
members, and we have forged an historic agreement with Russia that
buries the Cold War once and for all.

A second major goal of American foreign policy is to promote
prosperity. Here, the Clinton Administration has had extraordinary
success. Since 1993, more than 200 trade agreements have been
negotiated, causing exports to soar and creating an estimated 1.6
million new jobs nationwide.

This matters to states such as Alabama where one of out five
businesses is an exporter and where exports rose by more than 40%
between 1993 and 1995 alone; and it makes a particular difference to
port cities such as Mobile, where exports are linked directly or
indirectly to more than 100,000 jobs.

As some of you may know even better than I, competition for the
world's markets today is fierce. Often, our firms go head-to-head with
foreign competitors who receive active help from their own
governments.

Our goal is to see that American companies, workers and farmers have a
level playing field on which to compete. And we continue to make
progress towards that objective.

Last December, we achieved an International Technology Agreement that
will open up new markets for high-tech products from Alabama's
aerospace industries.

Just two weeks ago, we completed a package of Mutual Recognition
Agreements with the European Union that will boost trade in sectors
from pharmaceuticals to computers.

Soon, the President will be asking Congress for fast-track negotiating
authority to forge an agreement that will open markets and further
expand trade in our own hemisphere.

As long as I am Secretary of State, our diplomacy will strive for a
global economic system that is increasingly open and fair.

Our embassies will provide all appropriate help to American firms.

Our negotiators will seek trade agreements that help create new
American jobs.

And I will personally make the point -- as I do every time I travel
overseas -- that if other countries want to sell in our backyard, they
had better allow America to do business in theirs.

Strong diplomatic and economic leadership are essential to protect our
interests, but to build the kind of future we want for our children,
we must also remain true to American values.

Some suggest that it is soft-headed for the United States to take the
morality of things into account when conducting foreign policy.

I believe a foreign policy devoid of moral considerations can never
fairly represent the American people. It is because we have kept faith
with our principles that in most parts of the world American
leadership remains not only necessary, but welcome.

That is why we must fight and win the war against international crime
and put those who traffic in illegal drugs permanently out of
business.

It is why we must stand up to the forces of international terror.

It is why we should speak out against those who violate human rights,
whether those violations occur in Baghdad, Burma, Burundi or Beijing.

It is why we should keep our word and pay our debts to the
international organizations we rely on to help fight hunger, control
epidemic disease, care for refugees and ensure the survival of infants
and children.

And it is why we should do what we can to help those who are willing
to help themselves to find the road to peace.

I know that Chairman Callahan takes very seriously his responsibility

to see that your tax dollars are spent effectively and for purposes
you support. And I know that last year, he went to Bosnia to see our
operations there for himself.

I suspect he saw some of what I saw during my own trip there last week
-- refugee families braving tremendous odds to start over in burnt-out
shells of houses and untended fields. Children playing in parks where
less than two years ago a sniper's bullet was the only law.

And the tremendous dedication with which American servicemen and
women, and American diplomats and voluntary organizations, are helping
the Bosnian people to turn their swords into plowshares, their
minefields into farm fields and their bitter memories into future
hopes.

America cannot do it all. Others must be willing to take
responsibility for their own affairs.

But America can help to find the right path; as in Bosnia -- the path
to peace; as in developing nations -- the path to integration into the
world economy; as in central Europe -- the path to stronger democratic
institutions; and around the world -- the path to freedom.

A half century ago, a generation of American leaders, including
Secretary of State George Marshall and Senator Arthur Vandenberg, the
Republican Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, helped
to forge a bipartisan consensus to defend freedom against the threats
faced in their day.

They did this because they understood that when Americans stand
together, and act across party lines, we are more likely to succeed.

They knew that, when we are together, our commitments will inspire
greater trust. And those tempted to oppose us will think twice -- or
today, if they see Sonny Callahan and me ganging up on them -- maybe
more than twice.

Above all, our predecessors understood that the ties that bind America
are far stronger than disagreements over any particular policy and far
more durable and profound than any party affiliation.

I am reminded of a story in the Bible about the prophet Elijah, upset
by the waywardness of his people, seeking guidance from above.

As Elijah crouches in a cave, a great wind arises that splits
mountains and breaks rocks. But Elijah does not find God in the wind.
After the wind comes an earthquake, but God is not in the earthquake.
Then comes a fire, but God is not in the fire. Finally, after the
fire, there comes a still, small voice. And it is in that voice that
Elijah hears God.

I believe that those searching for the secret of America's strength
will not find it in our missiles, though our missiles, too, may split
mountains and break rocks; they will not find it in the tall buildings
on Wall Street or in the largest shopping centers or the most
luxurious private homes.

I think they will find it, instead, in the still, small voice that
helps us not only as Americans, but as people, to separate right from
wrong, to judge others as we would be judged, and to believe in our
hearts in the birthright of every human being to be free.

Let us all, Republican and Democrat, old and young, rich and poor,
heed that voice.

Let us meet the responsibility we have in our time, as others have had
in theirs, not to be prisoners of history, but to shape history; a
responsibility to fill the role of pathfinder and to make the
investments that will protect our citizens, secure our freedoms,
preserve our values and serve our interests through the remaining
years of this century and into the next.

Toward that end, I pledge my own best efforts, and I ask your support.
Thank you very much.

And now, I would be happy to respond to any questions that you might
have.