PRIME MINISTER
TRANSCRIVF Of INTERVIEW WITH THE PRIM4E MINISTER, THE HON. P.
J. KEATINGs ARUiNGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, WASHINGTON,
US. A, SUNDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 199)
J. Why wson't you be attending the sipnlng ceremony tomorrow?
F'M: BerAuSe I ouly have a couple of days here and so I have rescheduled some of the
Tuesday meetings onto Mooday, to which came for the Trade Secretary, Mr
Kantor and the Secretary of the Treasury. -I'll get a chance to meet them on the
Monday which I wouldik't otherwise do. The President baying scheduled our
meeting on the Tuesday which of course I think Is entirely appropriate given the
weight and circumstauce of what's happening the day before.
3: Did you seek a meeting with the CIA Director, Mr Keating and for what
purpose?
PM: Well that's beena a permanent part of the program, from the time the program
was developed for the purpose simply that this gentleman is director of ali
American intelligecce and we, as you know, have a intelligence partnership witb
the United States and an important one.
J: Will you be us~ drg up with Mr Clintoo the trade issues that have caused friction
in the relationship?
PM: Welk, I think for the President I will leave the discussion on the broader issues.
That is, the broader bilateral aad multilateral Issues and that... mean, the point
of the visit is to get to know him to have the chance to meet an American
Administration in its formnative days at a time when there is a coincidence of
interests between Australia and the United States. These are the things to
concentrate on rather thav scrabble around over a particular issue which I think is
better left to the discussions with the particular ministers who are deating with
them.
J: Won't he have his mind on other tbings? Like the Middle East? J-.41
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PM: Wellt I thin the Middle Exst ceremony On MOnday Will probably I think
Governnents tend to do things in discrete ways. One handles one issue at a time
one day and something elme the next. I think that the intCests Australia now has
in trade, that is with such thigs as the Uruguay Round and with AYEC also
happen to be on the top of the United States agenda. So I think, therefore, they
are very much contemporary issues and contemporary issues of the Prcsident.
J: Shouldn't you take every opportuity, My Keating, to forcefully put the plight of
Australian rural producers?
PM-, ITl be putting it and I wil mention it probably over the lunch. But for the key
discussiovs I'd 10( e to keep them ou to the big mainframe issues which wil] affect
Australia way into the futurye.
1: On APEC then. will you be tying to get any ind of endorsement from M
Clinton for the Summit in Seattle actually moving towards maing APECa
genuine economic Community?
PM: Well, I think the whole point aboat the APEC m~ inisterial meetings to date four
of them whicb we have had since its inc--pffitb and now the meeting of leaders
and such things as the development of a trade and investment framework
agreement and the work program; all of these things provide the capacity for the
natiorL states of APEC to get to kMOW one Aa6othe, to begin workin cooperative
fratmeworks, to be developing agendas together to develop a sense of economic
community. And that' s the very essnce of it
1: But isn't EB? the most pressing issue in the relationship?
PM: No, I don't tink it is. I think the most pressing issu~ e in the relationship is the
Uruguay Round and APEC to get Australia's long run interests set. EEl' and the
United States' willingness to deal with the Export Enhancement Program~ in terms
of the azeas in which these subsidies go ! I will be making it clear to the
admiinisiration that we've appreciated the assurances we've had in the past of not
extnding EEP into other areas. But I am not bere just simply to make those
trade points. I mean. that's the key point about this visit, it's about the longer
run and ' broader Issues.
J; Mr Keating, bow do you see Austi-alia's relationship with the United States
changin given that the Cold War is over and also Australia's mnaking a bigger
push into Asia?
PM: Well, I thiak it is changing, as the United States' relationship with the world is
changin with the Cold War overlay removed. And that meaxns, therefore, that
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events will have a mofe regional focus and the relatiouship the United States has
with countries will aecetsszil change because of xheir regional complion and
regional fit. This is also true of AustraUl
3: Mr Keating, NAMT is also a big issue in the U. S. How do you see APEC fitting
In with NAFrA if the U. S ( inaudible)
PM.-Well. NAFTA is a North Arnerkcam trading agreement and if North America were
to b~ e mterated with APEC it would be an entirely consistent thing. Were it to
be The Ulnited States and Canada and Mexico in an agreement I don't see that as
being in anly way different to the individual parts.-the United States or Canada
being Involved with APEC.
I1 Is there a rea chance that your talks won't be effective as tbey otherwise would
have been bad the Middle East developments not occurred at this time?
PM-don't think that's true. I think maybe the coDverse fs trUe. That is, I think I
now have more time with the President on the Tuesday than I was going to have
on the Monday. And I think the United States appreciates the fact that Australia
= a see the weight of what is being concluded on Monday. I think they
appreciate countries which have az appropriate sense of priority and magnitude.
But bemause the issueji which are on our agenda are also very much on their
agenda and they have been coperatingwith Australia ic tbem. I'm really
looking forward to the meeting and I hope the President is too.
1: Going back to Dr Evart Australia has played, In many ways, a key role in IsraeL
Does the fact that we're not going now reflect our attitude to the Middle East
and Israel Itself?
PM: No. No, we've tot been part of the peace process.
J: Mr K~ eating are you surprised that the Governor General has entered the
republic-an debate?
PM: I haven't caught up on his views.
1. Prime Minister, your predecessor, Mr Hawke, bas suggested that conservatives are
-Lt an aricle in the London newspapers over the weekend winning the
intellectual debate on the republic and that all hes heard from the prorepublicans
is einotionalism. Is that the way you see it?
PM: Well, no and I think that what you'll bear from~ the iepublicas, so to speak, is in
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the first instance tbe report of the task force, the committee, which will look at
ways of making a competent ehange to a republic. And I think the music starts
after that.
J: Do you believe that the mooarchists have made a few bits though?
PM: No, I don't think so. Look, Australia wil] become a republic as inevitably as we
are standing here. And it's about modalities, forms and timing. So I don't think
the monuarchists, as you put it, have made any bits at all.
End s.