Secretary Baker. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to begin with a statement before turning to each of the cochairs of this conference for statements of their own, and, after our opening comments, we will, of course, take your questions. Please feel free to direct your questions to any one of the 54 heads of delegations that are seated here.

Let me begin by saying that our discussions have been productive, and they have centered on concrete and coordinated actions. In our meetings, 47 nations and 7 international organizations have rolled up their sleeves, they've gotten down to work, and they've produced some tangible results. Let me review some of these with you.

First of all, we have agreed to proposed to the New Independent States that a contact group of conference participants meet in Minsk next week to review the working group action plans. These independent states have already provided us with preliminary assessments of their priority needs, along with lists of city and oblast level officials and voluntary officials who can serve as points of contact for our future efforts.

Next week's meeting will begin more systematic follow-through between international donors and the New Independent States themselves.

Secondly, as the EC announced yesterday, the EC will host a follow-on conference in Lisbon within 90 to 120 days to assess how the work coming out of the conference here is proceeding in dealing with the emergency, where we need to expand our efforts, how we might further improve international coordination, and my colleague from Portugal will probably have more to say about that during the course of his presentation in just a moment. We also welcome Japan's effort to host a possible third conference.

Third, the working group cochairs have produced detailed plans of action in food, medicine, shelter, energy, and technical assistance. These plans of action are intended to be working documents that will guide the cochairs as they take concrete steps to coordinate emergency assistance and to interact with the New Independent States.

My cochair colleagues will perhaps go into more detail with you concerning these, but we are summarizing these actions for you, and we will distribute fact sheets as soon as we possibly can, and I hope it's shortly after we conclude here.

Fourth, I would like to say that Ambassador Richard Armitage will serve as the operational on-the-ground coordinator of emergency assistance for the United States. He has already begun consultations with other participants to the conference on how best to mesh operational plans for emergency shipments and how best to reduce the danger of food and medical shipments being diverted.

NATO in particular has offered to provide logistic support. Other participants are also appointing counterparts to Mr. Armitage.

Fifth, many participants have made a number of proposals, not only for international coordination but also relating to their individual contributions. The European Community has already demonstrated its deep commitment to this effort and has made it clear that it will continue to do so.

I have been told that over half the participants yesterday and today presented some new idea or initiative to meet emergency humanitarian needs.

Most importantly, proposals came from Latin American and the Persian Gulf, as well as Asia and Europe, including the Nordic countries, the Central and Eastern Europeans, and others, as well as the European Community. So think it's fair to say that we truly have a global effort.

In this respect, this conference is just the start of a continuing effort to intensify and to coordinate a global response to this emergency. Expert level discussion focusing on specific aspects of this emergency will continue in the weeks ahead.

And, finally, ladies and gentlemen, let me take off my hat as host for just a moment to briefly mention some specific U.S. initiatives that have emerged as a result of this conference. And, again, we will provide you with a list as soon as it has been compiled and, hopefully, shortly after this press conference.

These initiatives include such things as shipping appropriate Department of Defense excess medical stocks, establishing partnerships between U.S. hospitals and their counterparts' providing logistics support to U.S. private sector groups who wish to ship medicine or food; putting up to 3,000 farm volunteers on the ground; establishing housing advisers on the ground; creating a training program for grassroots democracy with up to 500 participants; establishing a Eurasian foundation for democracy, free enterprise, and training in leadership and management.

Putting these initiatives into practice will be made easier by the diplomatic missions that we are establishing in the New Independent States. By the end of next week, the United States will have diplomats on the ground in Minsk, Alma-Ata, Yerevan, and Bisnkek, in addition to those that are already in Moscow and Kiev. We also look forward to creating missions in the other states once we have established diplomatic relations with those states.

Now, before turning to my cochairs, I'd like to announce one additional initiative. Beginning on February 10 and for one to two weeks thereafter, the United States will undertake an airlift of critical emergency assistance shipments. During this time, the U.S. Air Force will fly 54 sorties of critical medical and food shipments to cities in Russia and the New Independent States.

The first C-5s will leave on February 10 from Rhein-Main Air Base in Frankfurt. We hope to airlift food and medical supplies to each of the twelve New Independent States, provided the determination is made that they can be delivered safely. To ensure shipments are adequately managed, distributed, and monitored, the United States will deploy immediately teams consisting of Department of Defense, Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, and Agency for International Development personnel and others. These teams will manage the delivery to targeted groups and locations, including, for example, orphanages and hospitals.

Of course, no airlift could ever come close to meeting all the needs of the people of the New Independent States. But this airlift that we are calling Operation Provide Hope can help deliver the food and medical supplies that are critically needed. Above all, Operation Provide Hope can vividly show the peoples of the former Soviet Union that those that once prepared for war with them now have the courage and the conviction to use their militaries to say, "We will wage a new peace."

Now we will hear from the working group cochairs, and I would ask each cochair, if they would, to identify themselves and your working group. We will proceed in the order that groups have made presentations to the conference, so we will begin the Food Working Group and Foreign Minister Genscher of Germany, to be followed by the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Italy, The Netherlands, Venezuela, the EC, NATO and Portugal. Hans-Dietrich.

Foreign Minister Genscher. At the outset of my statement, I should first of all like to express my gratitude to the American Government and Jim Baker for the initiative.

We Germans consider this initiative as part and parcel of a long standing and good and well-proven American tradition. When we heard of this initiative for the first time, we were reminded of the Marshall Plan that was implemented for the destroyed Europe after the Second World War. We were reminded of the airlift to Berlin, and we once again experience this vast and big country is initiating something that is meant to make the peoples in the world aware of the fact that we have to assist the successor states of the Soviet Union.

When I speak of the peoples of the world, I think not only of the North American democracies, of Europe, but I think also of other countries--the Asian countries, the industrialized countries in the Asian region, and the Gulf States.

This is why we strongly supported this initiative at the outset. We believe that this initiative will be allowing us to mobilize the international public. A process has been started. So the effect is going to be a mobilizing one, and step by step this process is going to make a contribution due to the fact that the sensitivities of people has been increased, so the outcome will be greater efficiency and greater contributions.

On the German side, Ambassador Dieckmann has been for a couple of weeks and months already the coordinator for relief programs and actions. We have already carried out more than 300 airlifts. We have carried out transportation by rail and by sea. We want to keep up the momentum, and this is why it is important that first of all we try to turn to the addresses, so to speak--the recipients, the countries to which the goods are to be brought, are to be informed, the Commonwealth of Independent States. Then we are going to have the follow-up conference in Lisbon; and the World Economic Summit which will be convened in Munich--Germany is going to be the host--is going to concentrate on assistance to the successor states of the former Soviet Union as one of the priority issues.

I should, first of all, like to report on the work of the Working Group on Food. This is the most urgent problem. To avoid any illusion, I shall hasten to add that we have reached the result [conclusion] that we not only have to discuss food aid for this winter, but--if we are to be realistic--we should also not lose sight of the next winter to come. That is to say that in the meantime, we have to try to do everything in our power in order to do away with weak spots in the food supply inside the Soviet Union.

At the same time, we should be aware of the fact that the production capacities are sufficient. So what we should try to do is to try to avoid that there are losses between the harvesting and the consumer. So the transport from, as I said, the point where the grain, for example, is being harvested, where it is being stored, are not too high. The summer period should be used for this purpose.

The result of this conference is that we are trying to identify the recipient states and areas. Here, we think first and foremost of the industrial conurbations, the industrial centers. This is not only true for Moscow and St. Petersburg but also true for other Republics. Therefore, it is going to be necessary that we concentrate on all conurbations and industrial areas.

This is especially true with respect to the people in the most urgent need for help--the old people, the children, the ill people in hospitals an old-age homes.

We already installed a task force in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Many troops are already there. They are involved in the process of distribution. And then we have the nongovernmental organizations who have been involved and the relief organizations. So this work has now to be coordinated.

We, the donor countries, wish to perhaps to try to agree on how to distribute the work amongst ourselves, so that we can avoid a duplication of effort and so that we can make a contribution to guaranteeing the sufficient supply where it is needed.

The second topic on which I have to report is housing, the housing area--and that is, indeed, again, a very urgent problem. In the Soviet Union, there is not a lack of 100,000 or millions of houses, or housing units, but tens of millions. During the withdrawal of the troops of the Red Army from Germany, Germany has committed itself to the construction of houses, and we have been using eight billion Deutchmarks for this purpose. The funds that are available are not only being used for work--construction work being carried out by German companies--but about 50 percent of the funds are being paid to companies from other countries, such as Turkish construction companies, because they already have gained experience in that field in the Soviet Union, and also companies coming from Central and Eastern European countries who traditionally have always had good relations in this field with the Soviet Union.

Therefore, I expect--and that again was a result of our negotiations--that those countries who are, geographically speaking, far off from the Soviet Union (so that they cannot easily make available their own productive capacities to the Soviet Union) that they at least provide the funds and order and task other companies with the execution of certain actions, who can then be used more effectively.

That is one past of the way in which we can assist in this area and this sector. The second one is, how to deal with the urgent need for housing. We have to take effective measures that come into effect quickly--that is to say, we have to provide housing, not of a permanent nature. We call them "housing containers." They are not, as I said, of a permanent nature but meant for a transitional period so that we can cope with the urgent emergency situation.

In the medium term, however, the housing sector has to create further capacities, and this has to take place in the Soviet Union itself. Germany is presently involved in the building up of full-housing combines in the Soviet Union so that they then, by way of providing help toward self-help, are in a position to increase their housing construction.

Additionally, we also provide assistance in developing a private housing sector in the economy so that we try, in so doing, to make a contribution towards developing a genuine housing market in the Soviet Union.

So the two areas on which I have to report to you--other colleagues are going to report on other areas--do have an effect that, if you take them together with the other working groups, constitute a clear signal. That is what this conference was meant to give--a signal going into three different directions.

First of all, a signal directed to the people in our own countries--that is, that help is urgently required. And, second, a signal to those countries who, up to the present point in time, have stood aside and have not provided any assistance. And third--that is perhaps the most important point--a signal addressed to those people in the successor states of the Soviet Union, because they peacefully and convincingly have made a contribution, as democrats, towards overcoming a dictatorship. They now have to be able to realize that the democratic world is not only applauding them and standing aside and waiting to see what is going to happen, but that the democratic world is really determined to assist them in this difficult process of overcoming those serious problems.

What is decisive here is that each and every citizen has to be made aware of the fact that the world is no longer divided. We have one united world; we have one united Europe; one united Germany.

The peoples outside the former Soviet Union will not be able to live well off, in the long term, if the peoples or the people in the former Soviet Union are not well off, because our fates are linked, and this is why solidarity is called for. This is the signal, the appeal that has to emanate from this conference in Washington.

I should like to thank Jim Baker very much for the fact that it was he who, together with the President of the United States, George Bush, created this initiative for this important--I'd even go so far to say historic--conference. Thank you.

Secretary Baker. The United Kingdom. Mr. Bayne.

Deputy Under Secretary of States for the United Kingdom Nicholas Bayne. As Foreign Minister Genscher has already indicated, this conference identified four objectives for food assistance to the New Independent States: to reduce hardship this winter; to strengthen the market in the food sector; to mobilize the new states' own food resources for next winter and beyond; and to reenforce economic reform.

There is a great deal of food aid in the pipeline being delivered: about $500 million in grants and about $5 billion in credits with more being committed all the time.

The key task we identified is to ensure this food gets to those that need it, in very difficult conditions. Five things are required:

First: Targeting of cities and regions where the shortages are, making sure none are forgotten.

Second: Pooling the experience of nongovernmental organizations and other agencies in distributing food to the needy.

Third: Developing techniques of offering food grants for sale to strengthen markets.

Fourth: In transport, using the facilities of neighboring countries to the new states--their ports, their railways--and using NATO's logistics if commercial networks fail.

Fifth, and most important, coordinating delivery by donors on the spot in close partnership with the local authorities in the new states. On this, the European Community has made a start but it's now necessary to go wider.

Food credits are much larger in amounts than food grants, and they remain a major source of food imports for the population of new states. We need to make sure that none of the new Republics is forgotten, and we should make maximum use of sources of such food in the East European countries and other traditional exporters.

Technical assistance in the food sector is essential to make emergency aid unnecessary in the future. More and more countries are taking part in this technical assistance effort. The priorities are, as Minister Genscher has said, food processing, transport and marketing, plus better farming practices and better storage, all in the context of getting more competition into the food sector as into the entire economies of the new states.

The food group's next task after this conference is to establish contacts with the new states and to work with key international institutions to prepare the next conference at Lisbon.

Finally, let me say how deeply the United Kingdom is engaged in this collective effort to help the new Republics. Foreign Secretary Hurd, my Minister, came here direct from Moscow, Kiev, and Alma-Ata. We are deeply involved in the European Communities food grants, food credits, and technical assistance programs, and we are sending people to take part in their monitoring task force.

Under our bilateral programs, animal food from Britain is arriving even now for farmers near St. Petersburg while our experts are advising on bread distribution in Moscow. We have just announced a new program of medical aid worth nearly $4 million.

So we welcome very greatly this successful conference, and we welcome the initiative of Secretary Baker in calling it. Thank you.

Secretary Baker. Thank you, Mr. Bayne. May we hear form Canada.

Canadian Assistant Deputy Minister, European Branch, David Wright. Mr. Secretary, I want first of all to extend Canada's thanks and congratulations to you for taking the initiative to convene this important meeting and for managing such an important and productive discussion.

We have the unique opportunity to support the historic economic and political transformation of the newly independent countries of the former Soviet Union. Canada will play its part in meeting this challenge.

To date, our assistance, in the form of credits and grants and other forms of technical assistance, totals almost $2 billion.

Canada was pleased to act as cochair of the Food Working Group. As my colleagues have indicated on the food situation over the past two days have demonstrated a spirit of cooperation and a strong commitment to provide further help--both immediate aid and longer-term technical assistance.

As our Minister emphasized yesterday, hungry people cannot embrace reform. We must now work hard on the ground in the newly independent states to ensure that food is delivered, especially to those most in need. Only concrete results will ensure that the reform process succeeds. Canada is strongly committed to working with others here to that end. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Secretary Baker. Thank you. Japan.

Deputy Foreign Minister of Japan Kunihiko Saito. Mr. Secretary, on behalf of the Foreign Minister of Japan, who had to leave earlier, I would like first to thank the Government of the United States and particularly Secretary Baker for taking the initiative in convening this historical conference.

I think the conference was very productive, and the discussion which took place yesterday and today in the conference will form an excellent basis for taking concrete steps in a coordinated and efficient manner.

Japan cochaired the group on medical assistance. The gist of the results of the discussion which took place in this working group is contained in a sheet of paper which, I believe, has been distributed to you. I won't go into details explaining this paper.

This working group has agreed to propose a four point program. It has also agreed to take specific steps in the coming weeks and months. I believe these points were generally accepted by the participating countries.

Now a few words on the position of Japan. We believe that we should help the Newly Independent States in their efforts to introduce and establish democracy and a free market economy. They are having a difficult time now, and we should make every effort to extend emergency assistance for humanitarian considerations.

From such a viewpoint, my government, in addition to the $2.5 billion package which was announced in October last year, recently decided to donate an amount of 6.5 billion yen--roughly $50 million--to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for food and medical assistance. We shall continue to make efforts in cooperation with other countries and organizations to extend humanitarian emergency aid to the New Independent States.

Finally, I'd like to mention that my Minister announced yesterday, as was mentioned by Secretary Baker, that Japan is prepared to host the third conference to follow up the second conference to reconvene in Lisbon. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.

Italian Foreign Minister Gianni de Michelis. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to add only a few considerations on what already Hans-Dietrich Genscher has said on the problem of shelters.

The first consideration is that now, after the discussion in our working group, it is clear to everybody that the shortage in housing in all the twelve Republics in the former Soviet Union could be, in the near future, not only a big social and humanitarian problem, but also a big political problem.

It is, maybe, the worst bottleneck which all the Republics will find in front of them during the first phase of restoration of the reorganization of their society and their economy. A failure in over-passing that bottleneck could really bring very dangerous tensions and destabilization in most of these Republics.

The second consideration is that it is clear, also taking into account the huge dimension of the problem and that fact that, at least with respect to the problems of relocating the army personnel and giving an answer to the problem of international refugees, we are to face a problem of almost 1.52 millions of people. There is no possibility for the Republics to face this problem by only mobilizing their internal resources. Obviously better mobilization and faster mobilization of internal resources is absolutely a necessity.

So the conclusion is that if we are trying--as we are trying in this conference--to shape a shorter-run, focussed strategy, not only for emergency or humanitarian aid but really for coordinated assistance to the Republics, for avoiding the failure of their efforts toward democracy and a market economy, something must be done also through the external foreign cooperation.

So we have really, at the end of this working group, clearly targeted three main and important and urgent objectives.

The first is obviously to start--through technical assistance and technical advice, to help them to reorganize their internal national building industry.

Secondly, to prepare ourselves to face, through the international organizations, emergencies which could arise in a very sudden and wide way in the near future, especially as a consequence of the reorganization of the relations among the different Republics.

Third, to organize a joint international effort on a bilateral and multilateral basis for promoting, through technical assistance but also through financial participation from abroad, a sort of shock program of the building of shelters or houses. That could become, especially in the next two years--in the next two winters--probably the first emergency among the many which we have discussed in our groups.

So there is a problem of coordination; there is a problem of better identification--pragmatically, on the ground--of the priorities. But there is also the problem of understanding that we have to mobilize important financial resources from outside and take into account the level of the perception of the problem in our nations--a society problem.

Probably on this point, it would be a necessity to make a big effort of informing our public opinion at home and for informing parliaments and governments. I think that on the basis of these results, there is another demonstration of the importance of this conference. We are grateful to Secretary Baker and to the Government of the United States for having given to everybody this opportunity, which I really hope does start a new phase of real action with respect to this very important problem.

Netherlands Foreign Minster H. van den Broek. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We were very pleased, as the Netherlands, to have the honor to cochair the energy working group together with our friends from Venezuela. Needless to say, also in the energy field, the problems in the CIS countries are manifold, are of short-term nature, or at least require short-term and longer-term approaches.

In the production field, be it oil, coal, or electricity, production has significantly decreased in the New Independent States due to a lack of internal investment, dislocations in the equipment supply system, and a general economic decline, including strikes in energy-producing sectors. The lack of a satisfactory legal regime has hindered foreign investment so far.

But also the disruptions in the distribution system have caused severe energy shortages in several regions of the New Independent States.

One could further mention the huge wastage in energy consumption. If we only considered that on an annual basis, what has flared in gas by the CIS states amounts to a volume of 35 billion cubicmeters on an annual basis, which exactly the annual consumption of gas in The Netherlands. Pure waste.

Adequate supplies of energy, needless to say, are crucial to sustaining the market economic reform movements in the new states.

So what do we do about it? What has the working group established as a plan of action?

-- Starting consultations with the New Independent States immediately on urgent needs and priorities and the means of providing assistance; a mixed public and private mission of experts from the EC, the IEA, and supported by Canada, Japan, the U.S., and Venezuela will start consultations early next month.

-- Plan of action assuring adequate and prompt fuel supplies--this is short term--for the transport of food and medical assistance from ports of entry to points of consumption. NATO could contribute in this effort.

-- Supporting the efforts of the Ukraine and Kuznetsk--Russian Basins--to improve productivity; and ensure supplies for power generators.

-- Increase health and safety conditions and raise the quality of life.

-- Seeking to increase the energy efficiency of heating districts in the large cities, with a particular emphasis on assuring improvements in home heating and critical industries such as food processing.

-- Working with New Independent States to anticipate and respond to fuel and electricity needs for agriculture and food processing for 1992 spring planting and for harvest.

-- In addition, developing a regional approach to meet fuel problems in the fishing and fish-processing industries in the Far East regions.

We will start a dialogue with the energy-producing New Independent States to encourage adequate supplies to areas with significant shortfalls in fuels such as Armenia and Kirgizstan.

Regarding the private sector:

-- Promoting private industry efforts, with the assistance of the EBRD and the World Bank, to overhaul pipelines and gas compressor stations in Russian, Ukraine, Byelorussia, with the objectives of cutting transmission losses;

-- Immediately offering technical expertise in the management, maintenance, and operation of pipelines under market conditions;

-- Working also with the private industry to provide spare parts and essential equipment, management skills, and resources to rapidly restart production in existing petroleum fields, and encouraging the New Independent States to open fields for the private sector;

-- Also provide assistance to improve energy efficiency of existing refineries.

All of these are clear objectives, but it is also self-evident that success in meeting the energy challenges of the New Independent States will depend on the support of those states, the engagement of the private sector, and providing assistance in a manner that supports and encourages market-oriented reform.

The lead time in the energy sector is generally longer, but short-term visible results can be achieved.

So this, Mr. Chairman, is the outcome of the work in the Energy Working Group, and the briefing of the New Independent States on the conference results will be undertaken by the cochairs in cooperation with the contact group in Minsk next week. Then the Working Group will collect, assess, and distribute information on existing bilateral programs. And immediately following the consultative mission, the working group will meet to evaluate results in order to finalize the plan of action, including the implementation mechanism.

May I end by thanking the American administration, in particular Jim Baker, for the tremendous efforts of organizing this conference, which also, in our view, has been a very productive and effective one. Thank you so much.

Secretary Baker. Minster Duran.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Armando Duran. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have very little to add to what Minister van den Broek has just explained about the energy group.

I would like to clarify, though, certain aspects about oil production and distribution, which is the core problem at least in the next few months and the next few years.

There is a very clear decrease in production of oil in the New Independent States, but still that is not the big problem. The production of oil has come down to about nine million barrels per day, which is about two million barrels more than what is necessary for national consumption in the ex-Soviet Union, which is about seven million. That is why they are still exporting--about two million.

The big problem with the ex-Soviet Union is the disruption of the distribution system. They are producing, but they are not distributing oil and fuel to places that should receive it. As a matter of fact, that is part of the bigger problem--which is the disruption of the communist production and distribution system, and the impossibility, at least up to now, to substitute that system for a free-market system.

In that respect, Venezuela is engaged to aid the ex-Soviet Union with the--well, Venezuela is a developing country, so we cannot be donors of anything except our expertise in the successful management of our oil industry.

So Venezuela will be present at the Minsk meeting next week, with out experts, to provide whatever experience that we can provide them, to help rebuild or build a distribution system and the modernization of an oil industry that in the last few years has been really sliding into obsolescence and inefficiency.

That is the engagement that Venezuela is willing to make to help to aid the New Independent States to rebuild their oil industry.

I would also like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation to the Government of the United States and, of course, Secretary Baker for this initiative which allows us to participate in such an ambitious project--to work toward peace and world security. Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary.

Secretary Baker. Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Andriessen.

EC Vice President Frans Andriessen. I would like to thank the United States and in particular the Secretary of State for organizing this conference.

This conference has been a successful and productive one, addressing the right issues at the right time. It has set priorities for technical assistance which will remain unavoidable, indispensable for the countries concerned.

For this conference to prove equally valuable in practice, plans must now be followed by action and results.

As the other countries in Central and Eastern Europe, the New Independent States can count on the European Community to see that plans are followed by action. We are encouraged by this conference to note that other share this commitment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Secretary Baker. Thank you, Frans. Manfred Woerner.

NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner. Ladies and gentlemen, here I participate as the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance which, as you all know, has been the principal opponent to Soviet expansion. Now the same NATO is offering its assistance to the peoples of the former Soviet Union. Nothing could better symbolize the end of the Cold War.

We are replacing by deeds--and not only by words--confrontation by cooperation. I think we are sending a very powerful signal to the citizens of the former Soviet Union. We are no more enemies. We have become friends. We know it from the Russians and others. They want us to give such a signal. They want us to participate. Our offer of assistance is fully in line with one of the principal new tasks of our Alliance, to act as a center of stability for the whole of the Euro-Atlantic community.

The principles which will govern NATO's contributions are: First, we will concentrate on those activities which no other nation or no other institution can do better; and second, we will act in closest cooperation with nations, international organizations, and of course recipient states.

So NATO has offered a meaningful assistance in three areas:

-- First, in the coordination of transport at the request of nations and international organizations;

-- Second, in contributing to the overall task of distribution by offering logistical expertise and communication support; and

-- Third, in the area of medical requirements, we could serve as a clearing house or we could assist any other organization acting as a clearing house.

NATO's civil and military staffs have trained for years in the largest logistical task one can imagine: the transfer, reception, and onward movement of reenforcements to defend our nations in a major conflict. Fortunately enough, this danger has disappeared. But it would be incomprehensible, we think, if not inexcusable, if we hesitated to use our training and expertise in this tasks of similar logistical dimensions.

At the end of the day, the purpose is the same--to project stability, to defend democracy, and to preserve peace. So we stand ready to respond to the need, and we are delighted to have seen during the conference that there was broad support by member nations and by non-member nations of NATO for our offer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Secretary Baker. Thank you, Manfred. For the EC Presidency, Minister Joao de Deus Pinheiro.

Foreign Minister of Portugal Pinheiro. Ladies and gentlemen, I think that one of the first and foremost achievements of this Washington conference is the fact that it has brought together a large number of countries from all of the continents of our globe, and meet one common objective: to act together in a spirit of solidarity with the peoples of the New Independent States of the CIS; to help them succeed in their efforts in the difficult transition to democracy and market economy.

This is, however, the first step of a process. Ahead lies the task of translating our commitments into effective and rapid results. We now need to ensure that the people in the new states and their authorities at every level join us as partners in this task. Our aim is to contribute to their efforts and help them to reach the objectives they have chosen.

If we succeed in this enterprise, as we must, we shall not only have helped to provide relief to million of people, we shall have laid the best possible foundation for a new era of global solidarity. We shall need to build a strong momentum on the basis of our commitments at this Washington conference. The next few months will be used to get this momentum underway.

Probably at the beginning of May, in the next conference to be held in Lisbon, we must bring the countries represented at the Washington conference together with the twelve new states of the CIS.

Our approach is flexible and pragmatic. We will seek to mobilize all the existing resources of countries, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations and private enterprise. We do not envisage the creation of new international bureaucracies, but we must not have any illusion that the large scale efforts needed can become effective without the corresponding organization and coordination.

The European Community and its member states will continue and further develop their considerable contributions to this enterprise. Let me finish by, in the name of us all, thank very warmly the United States Government and President Bush for having convened this conference, to congratulate you on the success which is a success of this conference, and to tell you that this means actual responsibility for the European Community and for Portugal. We gladly take this actual responsibility due to the success of this conference. Thank you very much.

Secretary Baker. Thank you very much, Minister. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll be happy to respond now to your questions. Please direct your questions to whomever you wish to ask.

Q. Secretary Baker and Secretary General Woerner. How great are the factions in the CIS countries that are calling for a return to the old order, and how strong is the chances of military takeovers in those countries?

Secretary Baker. I think it's quite evident that one of the reasons that we are all here, and have been here over the course of the past two days, is because we have fought for--we have struggled for over 40 years and at the cost of many, many billions of dollars in defense of certain principles that everybody on this dais now shares, and in opposition to some competing principles.

Democrats and reformers and people who believe as we do are now in power in the Republics of the former Soviet Union, in power in the New Independent States. It is very, very important to us that they succeed. I think if we felt that there were not threats to that success, we would not--perhaps not--be as vigorously engaged in the undertakings that we have been engaged in here today, albeit we still would be trying to respond to humanitarian needs.

But it is very important that the democrats and reformers be given an opportunity to succeed, and that's part of what we're all about, and there is a threat.

NATO Secretary General Woerner. In addition to what Secretary Baker just mentioned, as you know, NATO has established a Coordination Council, a Cooperation Council. We have started the liaison process with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and have included the Soviet Union--or now I have to say the former Soviet Union--and we will take in, once they are recognized, the Independent States, just for the purpose to contribute to prevent such dangers, to realize, to happen, Just for the purpose to give them not only the impression, but the reality that they participate in an international process which makes a Europe whole and free a reality. And that is, I think, the main purpose of this undertaking, and I think we will be successful.

Q. We read the proposals of the Bulgarian delegation, and the most interesting one is the question of the trilateral--the triangular operations.

What is exactly the role of Bulgaria as you envisage it in such trilateral, triangular, operation? And the second question, can you give us later on, an interview? I mean, for Democratzia [newspaper published in Sofia]?

Foreign Minister of Bulgaria Ganev. Thank you for the question, and thus giving a chance for people to hear more about Bulgaria, because lately the voice of Bulgaria is being heard ever more often, and there are good reasons for that. I'm thankful to Mr. Woerner for supporting the idea--not only Bulgaria's idea, but also the ideas of Poland and other countries, for using these triangular operations, because right now it is a question of assisting the democratic process, not only in the former Soviet Union, but also in Eastern Europe, including Bulgaria.

Bulgaria has great capabilities through its ports--through its airports--also the production of agricultural goods, construction, housing, and this can be financially credited, funded, and thus not only the former Soviet Union will be assisted, but we will also assist the transition to market economy in countries like Bulgaria.

As far as an interview with Democratzia Daily, it will be my pleasure to give one. Thank you.

Q. Mr. Secretary, could you tell us, please, if there have been other contributions pledged beyond the President's contribution that we know of? Could you tell us, please, how these action programs will be funded, and there's been no word here of the criteria. Is there a consensus now as to how much of a commitment these 11-12 republics have to have to capitalism, or what you have to have the capitalism, or what you call free market economies, in order to qualify for humanitarian aid? Have the Germans and the Americans, for instance, come to terms?

Secretary Baker. I didn't know that there was a significant difference between the Germans and the Americans, but let me say that with respect to criteria, we do not call for criteria insofar as pure humanitarian assistance is concerned. It is the position of the United States that we want, of course, to help those who share our values and our principles--those who are trying to make their efforts at reform succeed.

(Released by the Office of the White House Secretary, January 28, 1992)