World Trade Week, 1995

Proclamation 6805 of May 22, 1995

World Trade Week, 1995

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

American exports bolster the quality of life for
countless people, supporting 10.5 million jobs here at
home and supplying popular American products to
millions worldwide. They fuel our Nation's economy,
create high-wage jobs for our citizens, and link us to
countries everywhere. That is why my Administration
supported NAFTA and brought the Uruguay Round GATT
negotiations to a successful conclusion. As we
celebrate World Trade Week this year, we pause to
recognize the many ways in which ``Exporting is
Everybody's Business.''

In the two years since my Administration launched this
country's first National Export Strategy, America has
led the way in trade promotion and advocacy efforts,
strengthening existing programs and developing new
initiatives to serve U.S. exporters. The Trade
Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC) has worked to
create a more streamlined, responsive, and effective
system that enhances our Nation's economy and helps our
firms to compete successfully around the globe.

During the past year, we have worked to develop a new,
innovative trade finance strategy. The Export-Import
Bank of the United States, the Overseas Private
Investment Corporation, the Trade and Development
Agency, the Small Business Administration, and the
Departments of the Treasury and Commerce have provided
new forms of trade finance that help our firms to
compete in the global marketplace. We are addressing
the removal of unnecessary and ineffective export
controls and streamlining the licensing process,
liberalizing controls on a range of high-technology
products and increasing the effectiveness of
multilateral control regimes.

With the restructuring of the U.S. and Foreign
Commercial Service, now the Commercial Service of the
United States, the Department of Commerce is working in
partnership with the businesses it serves, promoting
U.S. exports, advocating U.S. business interests
abroad, assisting U.S. firms to realize their export
potential, and supporting the export promotion efforts
of other public and private organizations. By the end
of this year, 15 U.S. Export Assistance Centers will be
open across the country, offering virtually every
American business person a coordinated, multi-faceted,
international trade team close at hand.

Already, U.S. exports to our neighbors in the Southern
Hemisphere exceed $92 billion, generating good jobs for
our workers and demonstrating our competitiveness
throughout the international marketplace. At the Summit
of the Americas this past December, our Nation
reaffirmed its commitment to the extension of free
trade throughout the Hemisphere by the year 2005--an
opportunity that promises to bolster our economy even
further. These efforts, combined with our progress with
the countries of the Organization for Asian-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC), mean trade gains of
historic proportions. And that means more jobs for
hardworking Americans.

Still, much remains to be done. U.S. exporters must be
given every opportunity to sell our products freely and
fairly. Our companies must meet the challenge of
venturing into new markets. They must keep quality high
and production efficient, while marketing American
goods and services to [[Page 27666]] new customers
around the world. The work is difficult, but the
rewards are great: a strong economy, better goods and
services, and a brighter future for all of us.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim May 21 through May 27, 1995,
as ``World Trade Week.'' I invite the people of the
United States to join in appropriate observances to
celebrate the potential of international trade to
create prosperity for all.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-second day of May, in the year of our Lord
nineteen hundred and ninety-five, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and nineteenth.