 United States and the Vice President of the United States. Thank you very much. Thank you. Well, thank you all, and I say that, I think I can say that on behalf of the Vice President and myself. We're delighted to welcome all of you distinguished members from the diplomatic community, the senators and representatives, and honored guests. And today we celebrate the passage of a legislation that I've held close to my heart for a long time. I know all of us wished it could have come sooner, but as I promised when some of you were here last December, the time is short and the needs are great. We're all Americans. Together we can be a mighty force for good. We can show the world that we conquer fear with faith. We overcome poverty with growth, and we counter violence with opportunity and freedom. And now we're making good in our promise. I'm proud to stand with you for this celebration on the long-awaited first stage of implementation of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act. Ours is a collective partnership for peace, prosperity, and democracy in the Caribbean and in Central America, a partnership that's born of our shared vision that democracy is a God-given birthright, and that faith, freedom, and respect for the dignity of every citizen are the mainsprings of human progress. In the very outset of our administration, we've never wavered in our long-term goal to foster true stability and democracy, and to do so we must work together to help improve the underlying conditions for economic development. Peace and security in the Caribbean Basin are in our vital interest. When our neighbors are in trouble, their troubles inevitably become ours. What these countries need most is the opportunity to produce and export their products at fair prices. That's what the Caribbean Basin Initiative is all about. It offers them open markets in the United States and initiatives to encourage investment and growth. Far from a handout, the proposal will help these countries help themselves. Trade, not aid, will mean more jobs for them and more jobs for us. The CBI package, proposed to the Congress in March of 82, was designed by the governments and private sectors of the region's countries, including those of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It had three major elements, a supplemental appropriation of $350 million to provide emergency balance of payment support, the elimination for 12 years of nearly all of the remaining tariff barriers on Caribbean Basin country exports to the United States, and tax incentives to promote new investment in the tourist industry. The $350 million supplemental appropriation received strong bipartisan support and was approved by the Congress in September of 1982. These monies have now been obligated, allowing the importation of raw materials and capital goods to help get stalled economies in the region moving again. Aid levels to the Caribbean Basin have doubled since 1980. The other CBI proposals were an innovative and unprecedented plan to integrate trade preferences, investment incentives, and other measures to encourage the economic and social development of the countries of the Caribbean Basin. We seek to help countries implement free market strategies to stimulate their exports and strengthen their economies by expanding growth. Our original proposals evolved during many months of congressional consideration, and the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act was approved on July 28th, and the bill that I signed in August is true to our original intent. I'm convinced that over time it will contribute significantly to the economic stability and social tranquility of countries in the Caribbean Basin. The first element of this legislation is a 12-year, one-way free trade arrangement for all goods produced in the Caribbean Basin, except textiles, apparel, can-tuna, leather goods, shoes, and petroleum products. This marks a step our country has never taken before. It's evidence of our commitment to the economic health of our good neighbors. The second element would allow U.S. citizens attending business conventions in the Caribbean Basin and Bermuda to deduct from their income taxes the reasonable expenses incurred. The Secretary of Treasures here wants me to say, reasonable again. Now these benefits will become all the more important as the vigorous expansion of our own economy brings about an increase in our imports and more and more business travel. As a footnote, you should know that we have 125 Peace Corps volunteers trained in small-scale agribusiness. They're helping small farmers increase and diversify food production for their country's needs and for winter markets in Europe and North America. 50 more American volunteers will receive this training within the next few weeks. I was especially gratified that support for the CBI was overwhelming and bipartisan. I offer special recognition to the many members of Congress who strongly supported our proposals, guided them through the approval process, in particular, Congressman Dan Rostinkowski and Senator Bob Dole. You know, almost a year ago, Dan Rostinkowski took members of his Ways and Means Committee to visit five countries and meet with the Prime Ministers of more than 10 Caribbean countries. And it was on this trip that Dan coined a saying which was picked up by everyone in the Caribbean. CBI, he said, would be friends helping friends. Now in that spirit, I extend my appreciation to the governments and peoples of the Caribbean Basin countries themselves. They never tired in explaining why the CBI should be passed. They include the very effective spokesman for both the region's private sectors and labor unions. I also want to express my appreciation to David Rockefeller and his associates at the Council of the Americas and Central American Action for their help in providing key business support for passage of this bill. And I pledge to you today that enactment of the Landmark Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act will be followed by a vigorous implementation effort on the part of this administration. Ambassador Brock will continue as chairman of our Senior Interagency Task Force responsible for its policy and program development. I'm calling on the other cabinet members who've contributed to the CBI's development to give Ambassador Brock, by January 1st, their proposals on how to make the CBI the most effective means of expanding economic opportunity in the region. The formal process of designation which the Congress has given me the responsibility to carry out has been with delegations visiting with all the potential beneficiaries. Those discussions have been conducted with the kind of mutual commitment to friendship and goodwill which has made us all so excited about the future of the region. I'm optimistic that we will be extending the benefits of the program to virtually all the beneficiaries by the 1st of next year. The economic and social development of the Caribbean Basin should be part of a collective effort by the international community. Even before my original announcement of the CBI, we held consultations with the governments of Canada, Mexico and Venezuela as well as with our European allies in Japan. Colombia subsequently agreed to become a participant. Enactment of the CBI should encourage other donor governments and appropriate international organizations to expand their assistance activities in the region. The problems of the Caribbean Basin region are deep-seated and reducing them will be a great challenge, but we can gain strength from our shared vision. Only a century ago, Jose Martí, a great citizen of the Caribbean and the Americas, warned that mankind is composed of two sorts of men, those who love and create and those who hate and destroy. And Pope John Paul II has told us that only love can build. With faith, wisdom, courage and love, we can overcome injustice, hatred and depression and build a better life together for all of the Americas. I'm confident we will. I think back to an incident during my last trip to Central America. As I was beginning to speak in Costa Rica, suddenly I was loudly interrupted by a gentleman who was determined to make his own speech out there from the audience. I didn't know exactly what was going on and I turned to the president of Costa Rica to ask him and he informed me that this was the Communist, a Marxist member of their Congress, their legislature, and that he was determined to denounce us and that's what he was doing. He was speaking in Spanish so I didn't really know what he was saying. And finally reached a point that he seemed to be going on and I was standing there and I realized I had a microphone and he didn't. So I just overrode him and pointed out to the audience what I knew about him, what I'd been told about him, and what a tribute it was to their democracy, of which they're very proud, that he was allowed to say these things in that forum and yet he would never be allowed to do what he was doing in any of the Communist countries. Well the audience of more than a thousand rose in a standing ovation. There was a lump in my throat, must have been one in his because he sat down. I knew in my heart they weren't applauding me. They weren't even applauding the United States. They were applauding the principles, the ideals, and the dreams that we all share in which they, the brave Costa Rican people, have had the courage to live up to. I have to tell you a little post-script there that later the President told me that that Communist member of the legislature was the only member of the legislature that could afford to drive a Mercedes. But if the people of America, the Americas are given a free choice, they'll all choose to be like Costa Rica, not Castro's Cuba. Only a counterfeit revolution builds walls to keep people in and employs armies of secret police to keep them quiet. The real revolution lives in the principle that government must rest on the consent of the governed, and this spirit of democracy and freedom of opportunity is the driving force behind the Caribbean Basin Initiative. We're building together a future of new hope and more opportunity, and I pledge the best efforts of our administration to carry this positive program forward, making it worthy of the ideals and dreams that gave it birth. And now I'd like to ask Bill Brock to make a few remarks, and I thank you very much, and God bless you all. Bill? Mr. President, all of your friends gathered here today are anxious to share with you their collective sense of gratitude for your resolute and unflinching commitment to improving economic cooperation in the Americas. We all have reason to celebrate enactment of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act. It is a major victory, achieved because we were able to cooperate as governments and as neighbors. Our co-equal branches of government have cooperated, and our neighbors in the Caribbean have seen just how our process of democratic checks and balances not just works, but works to take account of the legitimate needs of the broadest group of beneficiaries. In the process, they've had the opportunity to watch a number of remarkable public servants standing here on this podium and in the audience. The President has mentioned Dan Rostinkowski and Bob Doe, Sam Gibbons, Chuck Percy, Russell Long. All of the members here present have contributed so very much, and I should add the congressional staff that work so hard on this process, which allowed us to achieve what is really important in this country, and that is a substantial bipartisan majority. There's also been incredible cooperation between the beneficiary countries and our national leadership. If there were some initial impatience with our democratic processes, as there was, this gave way quickly to the most productive means of promoting our common purpose. We have worked hard over the last 18 months, but the lessons we have learned from these efforts give us all the more reason to believe that the Caribbean Basin Initiative will enable the people of the Caribbean to build a brighter and freer future for their children. Mr. President, our efforts to implement the CBI have already begun, as you've noted. Just two weeks after you signed the Economic Recovery Act, Secretary Schultz and I sent two interagency teams to the Caribbean Basin to begin talking to our neighbors about those issues which we must consider before you make a decision on designating each of the potential beneficiaries as eligible for CBI benefits. We were explaining the so-called designation criteria, which must guide your decision on a beneficiary status. What the teams found was a willingness by the CBI governments to talk candidly about their national policies and practices. They agreed with us that our nations ought to and had to be talking seriously about specific ways in which we can help each other in fulfilling the aspirations of our people. One topic we discussed was employment and how to react to the efforts of workers to organize and pursue the better employment conditions. We talked about giving the full measure of protection and respect to the property rights of all citizens, whether those rights affect product, service, or capital. This is a particularly vital topic because without mutual respect for property, neighbors can never derive the maximum benefit from commercial exchange. We also discussed how the beneficiaries hope to improve their own capacity to take advantage of the CBI, including how each government could make scarce resources stretch further and be used most effectively and efficiently. Later this fall, as we are called upon to make our decisions on designation of beneficiaries, I think we will be very encouraged by the actions the nations of the Caribbean Basin are prepared to take on behalf of an improved economic partnership. Today is a celebration and a victory. A celebration of the higher virtues of our peoples, virtues of mutual respect, trust, and faith. And a victory for those who strive for freedom to create, to prosper, and to live in peace. For that, Mr. President, may I on behalf of all of us express gratitude to you, to those here present and to the people of the Americas for what we have begun. We have come a long way, but it has only begun and we have much to look forward to. And I thank you very much. There is a reception and refreshments. If you would like to stay around, we would welcome that and appreciate it. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Have a good job, Bill. See you soon. Good job, Bill. Well, friend. Good. Real good.