THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of
the Press Secretary
(Lisbon, Portugal)
| For
Immediate Release |
June 1,
2000 |
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO EMBASSY STAFF
Dom Pedro Hotel
Lisbon, Portugal
12:10 P.M. (L)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. First, I'm delighted to see you.
I'm sorry we had to delay this a little bit, but we had the meeting with Prime
Minister Barak. I want to thank, first, Gerry and Susan, my longtime friends.
We went to college together. You can tell by looking at us, it was a very long
time ago. (Laughter.) Susan worked for me many years in the White House, and I
miss her terribly, but I'm glad that they're here together. And I'm glad --
we've got this whole McGowan bunch of kids here, proving that this is a
pro-family administration. (Laughter.)
I've been told that the people
in our embassy have produced 20 children in the last couple of years, so I want
to thank you for that. I'll use that as an exhibit as I go around the world.
Obviously, I'm grateful to Secretary Albright and to Secretary Daley,
and to National Security Advisor Berger and our whole group. We had a wonderful
time here, and I want to say more about it in a minute. But I would like to say
just a few words about the meeting I had with Prime Minister Barak this
morning, because it is very important, and it's still early in America so if I
say it to you, they'll all hear it today. (Laughter.)
First of all, he
reaffirmed his intense commitment to reach an historic and complete agreement
with the Palestinians, which I think is very important to settling all the
issues and ending the conflict. I know from my own discussions with Chairman
Arafat that he also shares this commitment and that he recognizes the real
urgency of this moment to actually get back on the timetable and complete the
work that has to be done.
I'm sending Secretary Albright to the Middle
East next week to work with both leaders on narrowing the gaps that still
remain between them. And I will soon meet with Chairman Arafat in Washington --
I'll do it as quickly as I can -- finish my trip here and meet my other
obligations.
Both leaders know, from me and they know from their own
experience, that they now have to be prepared to make an intense effort and to
do things that they have not done in the past, with real courage and vision, if
we're going to actually get a framework agreement that deals with the
outstanding issues.
And I can only tell you that I'm still convinced
that they have the courage, the vision and the ability to do this, and the
United States will do everything we can to help them pass this milestone. And I
know that your thoughts and prayers will be with them. This is tough work. If
it were easy, somebody would have done it a long time ago. But, actually, it is
within view now. They could do and I believe they will do it. And I'm going to
do my best to help them do it.
Let me also now just thank all of you. I
have had a wonderful time here. I had a good meeting with Prime Minister
Guterres, in both his capacity as Prime Minister of this country and in
Portugal's presidency of the European Union. I had a good meeting and a good
dinner with the Portuguese President, Mr. Sampaio.
Hillary was here
three years ago, and she came home raving about everything about Portugal --
literally raving about it. It was a couple of days before she sort of hit the
ground. (Laughter.) And the one thing she said is, you've got to go to this
restaurant where they make sea bass in salt -- (laughter) -- but there's no
salt taste on the sea bass. I heard about this over and over again. I thought
it was a joke, you know.
So last night, Gerry took us all -- we had a
huge contingent -- we went to the Porta Santa Maria -- is that right? --
restaurant. It was too dark to see the ocean, but not too dark to see the sea
bass in the salt. (Laughter.) So I can now go home and give a report that my
wife did not exaggerate at all. It was the most interesting thing I ever did, I
think.
And then something is happening -- as I move toward the end of
my term, my staff has relaxed its requirement that I actually suffer a physical
breakdown on every trip from work, and I actually got to go play golf
yesterday. And I will never forget that; it was wonderful. So we got a lot of
work done, we had a good time, and I'm very grateful to you for all you have
done.
I also heard at the state dinner that wonderful Portuguese music
called "fado". And I may never get over that. I've been asking everybody I can
find to send me CDs. I'm going to promote fado music all over the world.
(Laughter.) I have been sort of the single-handed ambassador for music coming
out of northeast Brazil, but I think fado now has become my major passion in
life. (Laughter.) So I'll do what I can to help.
I want to say just a
few serious words to you. The people who represent the United States around the
world, both the people of our foreign service, our Commerce Department, our
military, the others who are associated with our missions, and the foreign
nationals who work with us, almost never get any publicity. And usually -- once
in a rare blue moon when they do get any publicity, it's because something bad
happened. And all the rest of the time you never get the credit you deserve,
day in and day out, for making the United States a good partner, a good friend,
a good neighbor; for doing all the work that has to be done.
The
relationship we have with this nation is strong, thanks in no small measure to
the work you do day in and day out, that too often goes unrecognized. And in
the seven and a half years I have been privileged to serve as President, every
time I have gone to a foreign nation -- and I've been to more, apparently, than
any other President; and Hillary, I think, has been to more nations than any
other First Lady -- I've been told that it's unfair for me to say that because,
given the break-up of the Soviet Union, we have more options than any previous
First Couple has ever had -- (laughter) -- so, doubtless, my record will be
broken some time by someone who likes to travel even more than I do and becomes
President.
But I thought it was important for me to travel the world,
and for us to try to make a better future out of the post-communist, post-Cold
War world. So I've had the opportunity to see many things. And I just want you
to know that I am profoundly grateful to you for what you do, and that I have
done what I could, both in ceremonies like this and in speeches back home, to
make sure that the American people know that they are getting more than their
money's worth, far more than their money's worth, out of our diplomatic
mission.
I have done what I could at every budget debate of the United
States Congress to argue that a lot of our national security and our national
interests are advanced by the diplomatic investments we make -- by the
investments we make in our AID programs; by the investments we make in the
Peace Corps; by the investments we make in our commerce missions. It's not just
a matter of military investments. If we want to advance the national security
interests of America, we have to be good neighbors, good friends, and good
partners. And you represent all of that, and I am very, very, very grateful to
you.
I also want to say that I'm grateful for the things you do here in
this country that kind of are above and beyond the call of duty. The work you
do with Portuguese families and Portuguese citizens, the things that you share
with them, are very, very important to me.
So -- let me say I also have
been told that there are three people who have been working here for over 40
years. And I think I should recognize them. Even if my Portuguese is not very
good, I'll do my best. Graca Santos -- (applause) -- all I can say is, if
you've been working here 43 years, you were obviously too young to go to work
when you started. (Laughter.) And Joao and Teresa Venancio, who have been
tending your garden all these years. Where are they? I'm glad you're here.
(Applause.)
So I say to you, to you three and to all of you, and to
your family and your children, obrigado. Thank you for what you have done for
the United States. And I know you'll be very glad when we're all gone.
(Laughter.) Have a good wheels-up party. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
END 12:22 P.M. (L) |
