 It's been a very great pleasure to meet with Chancellor Kohl again for a friendly and highly useful discussion. This year marks the 40th anniversary of a series of events that have shaped the destiny of our two countries. In 1948, the United States stepped forward and helped spark the post-war recovery of West Germany and Europe and assisted in starting a constitutional process that created a West German state. In response to Soviet challenges, we launched the Berlin Airlift and aided in laying the foundation for collective security and the economic integration of Western Europe. It was in this crucible of events that the modern relationship between the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States was forged, a relationship that has prospered and many times proven its value to both our countries. As befits good friends, the Chancellor and I have met regularly since we assumed office. Our discussions reflect the richness of our relationship and the many interests we share. I especially benefit from hearing the Chancellor's views on world problems. Among the many subjects we discussed today was the State of the NATO Alliance, including our common defense efforts and arms control strategy. I thank the Chancellor for his support throughout the long INF negotiations and now for the treaty itself. This treaty represents a major political victory for NATO, a success far beyond what many thought possible. It carries important lessons on how successfully to negotiate arms reductions with the Soviet Union. We also reviewed progress on the NATO Alliance's next arms control priorities. These include negotiations toward a 50% reduction in strategic arms, a verifiable global ban on chemical weapons, and redressing the serious imbalances in conventional forces in Europe. We agreed that we must deal with the Soviet Union from a position of realism, strength, and alliance unity. We agreed that the Alliance must maintain both military strength and readiness. These are the underpinnings and preconditions of any successful dialogue with the Soviet Union. Only a strong West can have a positive influence on the way in which the Soviet Union deals with other countries and with its own people. We know that a weak Western alliance cannot. The NATO summit meeting early next month will provide an opportunity to continue discussion of these important matters within the Alliance as a whole. The Chancellor and I also discussed economic and trade issues. In particular, I told the Chancellor that I supported the efforts he's made to stimulate the West German economy and I expressed the hope that he would do more. The Chancellor, in turn, welcomed our efforts to reduce the U.S. federal deficit. We both agreed on the need to avoid trade protectionism. Protectionism would be an economic disaster for both our countries. In the course of our discussions, we also touched on a subject close to both our hearts, the city of Berlin and its brave people. We both agreed that they must be included in whatever benefits improved East-West relations may bring. We look forward to a positive response to the invitation the Western powers extended last December to the Soviet Union to join with us in taking steps to improve the lives of Berliners. The Chancellor's visits to Washington are always welcome. We'll be seeing each other again soon at the NATO summit in Brussels. And until then, we do not say goodbye, but auf Wiedersehen. Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, my visit to Washington and this is my ninth bilateral meeting with President Reagan is, by all a return visit to the memorable visit the President paid to Berlin and Bonn last June. The Berlin initiative announced by you, Mr. President, was one of the points on which we focused in our conversation. I once again expressed my appreciation and gratitude to President Reagan for this initiative and I assured him that the Federal Republic and the Federal Government will do all its can in order to make its contribution towards the success of this initiative. In the meantime, the three Western protective powers have ended into talks with the Soviet Union on this issue and the President assured me that Secretary of State Schultz on the occasion of his forthcoming visit to Moscow will make it plain to his Soviet interlocutors that Berlin must be included from the very beginning in positive developments of West East relations. Mr. President, I must thank you again for the public of your country, because you have declared on the 6th of October, 1987, to the German-American Day and I must ask you to allow this day to become a permanent institution. Mr. President, I may take this opportunity to express my appreciation for having issued a proclamation declaring on the 6th of October, 1987, the German-American Day and I may request you to make this a permanent feature. Mr. President, we have spoken intensively about the development of the West-East relations. In no phase has the United States and the Soviet Union talked in a so close dialogue at the highest level, just like in recent years. The third summit between the President and General Secretary Gorbachev has opened the way to real resolution with the INF Treaty for the first time in history. I must also congratulate you again for my fellow countrymen in the Federal Republic of Germany on this success. We had intensive exchanges on the present state of West-East relations. Never in the post-war history has the United States of America and the Soviet Union been engaged in such an intensive dialogue at the highest level as in the last few years. And with the INF Agreement, the third summit meeting between you, Mr. President and General Secretary Gorbachev, has for the first time in history opened the way towards genuine disarmament. And I have seized this opportunity once again to express my congratulation to the President on this success, the success which will be your success and which will always be linked with your presidency. The INF Agreement is in the interest of the United States of America, it's in the interest of the Atlantic Alliance and it is not least also in the interest of our own country. No one, Mr. President, who in Washington or anywhere else in the U.S. thinks against this contract can be called upon to the government of the Federal Republic of Germany. That's why I have, yesterday in my talks, with the leadership of the Senate, clearly and unmistakably, pleaded for a ratification without restrictions. Nobody who has objections as far as disagreement is concerned, be it here in Washington or some Wales in the United States, can point to the Federal Republic of Germany. And that is the reason why yesterday when I had talks and meetings with the leadership of the Senate, I pleaded in no uncertain terms in favor of ratification of this agreement without any restricting amendments. Mr. President, you spoke of the current negotiations to start. The Federal Government supports with pressure, the halving of the strategic offensive potential of the Great Wall, because we believe that this step is not only in the interest of the U.S., but also in the interest of the Federal Republic of Germany and of Western Europe. The Federal Republic of Germany vigorously supports a 50% cut of the strategic offensive potential of either power, because this step is not only in the interest of the United States of America, but it would also be in the very real interest of the Federal Republic of Germany and of Western Europe. For negotiations on conventional stability in the whole of Europe, from Atlantic to Moral. And as of now, since the decision of the President of Reykjavik and Brussels to establish positions, we have agreed that it is in the context of the creation of a conventional balance and that it must come to a world-wide elimination of chemical weapons, and that it must come to a further reduction of nuclear systems. The goal must be the same. No zero solution. No nuclear weapons violations and not even a denuclearization of Europe. Mr. President, we staunchly support a worldwide ban on chemical weapons, and we support the early adoption of a mandate for negotiations on conventional stability in the whole of Europe, from the Atlantic to the Europe. In accordance with the decisions taken by the Alliance in Reykjavik and in Brussels, I have supported the position that in conjunction with the establishment of a conventional balance and the global elimination of chemical weapons, tangible and verifiable reductions of nuclear systems of shorter range should also be reached. The objective being equal ceilings, no zero solution, no denuclearized zone, and in Europe, at least of all, in Europe. We agreed that these equipment materials, just like the mass maintenance of our common security, must be brought into a whole concept of our alliance. We were in agreement that all these disarmament questions and issues, as well as the necessary measures to preserve our common security, should be combined and form an overall concept for our alliance. And we think that the forthcoming NATO summit meeting must be an incentive to that and give new impulses to that effort. We have agreed that we will remain in bilateral contact as far as all these issues are concerned. And along this line, and the President and I myself were in complete agreement on that, trust and confidence between West and East must be further developed and intensify. And this would also include the solution of regional conflicts as well as ensuring respect for human rights, particularly so in the countries of the Warsaw Pact. Mr. President, you have just made the same point, and we all are in agreement, that we will be able to face up to the tasks ahead of us in this new phase, can be mastered only when we show unity, coherence, and a closest measure of coordination and consultation. And, Mr. President, I would like to add here in the White House, in front of the public of your country, as a German Chancellor, the Federal Republic of Germany can provide its legal assistance to the interests of the people in Germany, to facilitate the consequences of sharing, to make the borders more accessible, only in the community and in the association of the free people of Western Europe and the United States. We are part of the Western Community and the United States. Mr. President, I would like to take this opportunity here to express, as Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, before the American public, that we are fully aware of the fact that the Federal Republic of Germany knows that only together with their allies, and only together with the support of all the free nations of Western Europe and the United States of America, will it be possible to attain its legitimate aim of easing in the interest of the people the consequences of the division of our country and to make the frontier between East and West more permeable. We are belonging to the West, and that is the way it will be also in future. Mr. President, this time I am not only a German Chancellor, but also a President of the European Community. We spoke about the few days before the successful Sunday summit in Brussels. We spoke about the measures taken there, especially regarding the restriction of agricultural production. And we also spoke about our common will to do everything in all cases, so that the free world trade remains preserved. And you have welcomed it, that in Brussels no tax tax has been decided. Mr. President, I came here not only in my capacity as Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, but also as the Chairman and the President of the European Community. I was able to report to you about the successful conclusion of this summit meeting, the European Community we had a week ago in Brussels, and the measures we agreed upon there, particularly the restriction and the limitation of agricultural production and our commitment to the maintenance and to the support of a common policy, favoring continued free trade all over the world, where some of the main decisions we have taken there. And I also assured you that we will certainly not adapt the tax on oils and fats. Mr. President, this is one of the best experiences of my visit in these years, here at the White House, that we have always been part of the view of transatlantic economic and trade relations, that the free trade and a decisive approach to protectionism, the spirit of our relationship and the tasks and challenges of the future speaks. Mr. President, it has been a reassuring experience in all the visits I paid to you here in the White House, that as far as our commercial relations, transatlantic commercial and economic relations are concerned, we have always renewed our commitment to the concept of a free trade and to rejection of protectionism, that this is part of the spirit in which we are facing these tasks and in which we will be able to live up to the tasks of the future.