at we do
so if we are to continue to be respected in the 
international community. Just as we will only be able
to create inner unification with an honest sense of 
patriotism, we will only be able to do justice to our
responsibility in world politics by assuming all the 
rights and duties of a United Nations member. The fact
that, as a result of our history and size, what we do, 
or fail to do, will continue to evoke ambiguous 
feelings m many countries for some time to come is no 
reason not to do this. We will not be making our lives 
any easier by refusing to carry out the required 
changes.

In achieving political unification we derived a 
maximum gain from the end of the East-West conflict. 
On the basis of our central location, our size and
our traditional relations with central and eastern 
Europe, we are predestined to derive the primary 
advantage from the fact that these countries have
returned to Europe. This applies not only in economic 
terms, but also in terms of the status of the German 
language and culture in Europe. This is a major 
foreign cultural policy task which we need to 
confront, despite the fact that budget funds are 
scarce at the present time. The other side of the 
coin is that we are exposed, as no other Western 
country is, to the enormous problems confronting the 
young reforming countries from the Oder to 
Vladivostock. We are absorbing the largest number of 
immigrants and providing the largest amount of
economic support (thus far, at any rate). We have been 
more strongly affected by the collapse of eastern
European markets and the pressures being created by 
cheap imports are being felt most strongly in 
traditional areas of our economy.

However, the opportunities out-weigh the risks. In 
connection with reunification we have made an in-
vestment which is forcing us temporarily to accept 
restrictions; however, if we pave the way for a
fundamental modernization of our economy and our 
society, as well as for normalization at home and
abroad, these will pay off in a few year the restructuring process. 
In the current difficult economic situation, the 
European Community must not seek refuge in a greater 
degree of isolationism against central and eastern 
Europe. The process of structural change in western 
Europe must be accelerated. This course alone will
preserve opportunities for the future on both sides of 
the Oder. Germany will continue to be the advocate for
our eastern neighbors and friends in the European 
Community; it will not forget this in the second half 
of 1994, when we assume the Presidency of the European 
Community.

4. As a major trading nation in the world and a close 
ally of the United States of America, Germany 
advocates a European union open to the world and aware 
of its historical ties with America. The bridge of 
friendship across the Atlantic was the key to the
end of the Cold War and reunification. We will never 
forget what our American friends did for us. The
preservation of a close and confidence-based 
partnership between Germany and America is more than
a debt of thanks for us. Closing ranks across the 
Atlantic will continue to be a cornerstone of our 
foreign policy and cannot be compromised by our
relationship with our closest neighbor, France. It 
will continue to be indispensable for the success of 
the European unification process as well as for the 
process of addressing global political and economic 
challenges at the end of this century. The conflict in 
the former Yugoslavia shows the extent to which Europe
needs American involvement more clearly than we in 
Europe may want to admit.

Integration of the third pillar of the world economy, 
the "Japan/Pacific Basin" economic region must be 
added to the transatlantic dimension of German and 
European policy. For me, the expansion of our economic 
and cultural presence in the high-tech and high-growth 
countries of Asia constitutes a new foreign policy 
priority. My visit to Beijing shortly after I took
office was intended to indicate this. Now that the 
East-West conflict has ended, stable global 
development will depend to a large extent on whether 
or not this world economic "power triangle" will be 
able to engage in economic and technological competi-
tion in accordance with the rules of free world trade. 
The Uruguay round of the General Agreement on Tariffs 
and Trade will be the test of this.

The world economy urgently needs new impetus. Only a 
successful conclusion of the GATT talks will
prevent an escalation of protectionism. There is a 
danger of a trade war waged among regional "cus-
toms fortresses." The compromise package achieved thus 
far, including the agricultural compromise reached
between the EC and America, is the result of six years 
of hard and very complicated negotiating and must
not be dismantled again. We agree with Washington that 
a rapid agreement is needed. For example, just as
the United States should not attempt to make the 
European Community responsible for its structural
problems in the steel industry, nothing should be done 
from the European side to encourage those in
Washington who are calling for a tougher approach in 
trade matters. Thus far, Germany has showed a
strong degree of solidarity in the Community. However, 
in this question, which is of vital importance not
only for us, but also for the East and the South of 
this world, solidarity within the Community must not
remain a one-way street. Protectionism is always an 
obvious reaction of weakness, but it only serves
to reinforce this weakness. As such, I can only warn 
against gambling away European prosperity in this
way. Europe has no reason to hide. In the European 
Economic Area being created from the Arctic Circle
to Sicily, we not only have the strongest consumer 
market in the world, we have the largest reservoir
of skilled workers. We also have a combined scientific 
and research potential that will stand up to com-
parison anywhere. If we stand together courageously, 
we will have nothing to fear from the harsh winds
of the world market.

5. Not only does the European Community need its 
transatlantic ties, but it can only prosper in close 
cooperation with its eastern neighbors, first
and foremost Russia and Ukraine. During my visits to 
Moscow and Kiev, I reaffirmed our desire to
engage in a close and long-term partnership. What is 
important now is that Russia restore its international
creditworthiness by rescheduling the U.S.S75.4 billion 
in debts incurred by the former Soviet Union. I appeal
to Russia and Ukraine to open this gate rapidly. 
Russia has an enormous potential as an economic 
partner once the privatization process has begun. 
Russia's gross national product last year was seven 
times as large as that of China. However, its
private sector produces only a fifth of these goods 
and services, whereas in China it is more than half. 
Russia is blessed with more raw materials than