06 October 1997
(Meet in Bucharest during A/S Grossman's visit) (470) Bucharest -- Romanian President Emil Constantinescu and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs Marc Grossman made statements to the press follwoing their meeting October 4. Following is a transcript of their statements. (Begin transcript) PRESS STATEMENTS BY ROMANIAN PRESIDENT EMIL CONSTANTINESCU AND U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE MARC GROSSMAN BUCHAREST OCTOBER 4, 1997 PRESIDENT CONSTANTINESCU: "We had the opportunity for a serious, sincere, and open discussion with an important U.S. delegation led by Mr. Grossman, which, this afternoon and tomorrow, will conduct talks with the leadership of all the institutions that have a mandate to participate in the Romanian-American Strategic Partnership. It was a discussion which lacked the usual protocol and focused on an assessment of the most important problems in Romania and in its region. We expressed our vision for this Partnership, which needs to comprise permanent consultations, the general concentration of policies, and, thirdly, concrete steps." ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE GROSSMAN: "Thank you, Mr. President. May I thank you for allowing us to come and visit you this afternoon. I was especially honored to be accompanied by a delegation from the United States, which represents the wide range of American interests in Romania. We have representatives here from the White House, from the Department of Commerce, the Department of State, and from the Department of Defense. We all benefited by having had the chance to hear the President's vision not only for Romania, but for Romania-American relations. I tried my best to respond to the President by saying that our policy in this region is guided by three themes. The first is transformation. I told the President how much we admire the transformation which has taken place in this region and in Romania. The second is integration, the desire of Romania to integrate into Western, transatlantic institutions. Third, we talked a great deal about cooperation: the cooperation between the United States and Romania and the cooperation between Romania and other countries in this region. As the President said, I will work with other parts of the Romanian Government as we define and work together on the partnership between Romania and the United States. We accepted the President's guidance that what we are seeking to create is a framework for consultation and cooperation, and that our objective is to find joint projects which we can do together, based on the interest of Romania and of the United States. So, Mr. President, I thank you again for your time and for your hospitality, and I hope that our work will measure up to your standards and to the standards of the United States. Thank you very much." (End transcript)