ACCESSION NUMBER:320497
FILE ID:POL209
DATE:01/11/94
TITLE:CLINTON WELCOMES HAVEL'S ACCEPTANCE OF PARTNERSHIP FOR PEACE (01/11/94)
TEXT:*94011109.POL
CLINTON WELCOMES HAVEL'S ACCEPTANCE OF PARTNERSHIP FOR PEACE

(Says security of Czech Republic important to U.S.)  (400)
By Alexander M. Sullivan
USIA White House Correspondent
Prague -- President Clinton welcomed Czech President Vaclav Havel's
acceptance of the Partnership for Peace January 11, saying the security of
the Czech Republic is important to the United States and to the Atlantic
Alliance.

Following his initial meeting with Clinton, Havel told reporters that Prague
"is ready to implement immediately in concrete terms" provisions of the
partnership.

Clinton arrived in Prague as a vivid demonstration to the Visegrad nations
that the United States sympathizes with their concern about the possibility
of danger from the East.  But he also returned to a city he'd visited
almost a quarter century ago as a young student.

Clinton said he talked to Havel about the economic dimension of security and
about the difficulty of reflecting democratic values and of pursuing sound
economic policy unless citizens have "the hope of success."

Later, the two presidents walked on historic Charles Bridge and Havel took
Clinton to a notable pub, the "Golden Tiger," to meet a couple who had
guided him around Prague on his earlier visit -- "24 years ago today,"
Clinton exclaimed.  Clinton and Havel were accompanied by Madeleine
Albright, U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations.

The president will meet individually and at a working luncheon January 12
with the Visegrad leaders -- Havel, Polish President Lech Walesa, Hungarian
President Arpad Goncz and Slovakian President Michal Kovac.

Clinton said he will tell the leaders that his Partnership for Peace program
can offer them a sense of confidence, even though it does not provide the
1utomatic defense against attack that full membership in the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization would offer.  It would offer the start of joint
military exercises with NATO units before year's end.

The partnership's purpose "is to open the possibility of NATO's enlargement
as well as to give all the former Warsaw Pact countries...the chance to
cooperate with us militarily," Clinton said.  He said he hopes the leaders
"will clearly understand that this is a very serious proposal that opens
the possibility of membership, not one that limits it."

Following the Visegrad session, Clinton flies to Moscow for a state visit to
Russia, stopping en route in Kiev to discuss the trilateral agreement he
will sign January 14 with President Boris Yeltsin and Ukraine's President
Leonid Kravchuk.

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