U.S. Department of State

Initialing Of The Balkan Proximity Peace Talks Agreement: Remarks By U.S.Secretary Of State Warren Christopher And President Milosevic Of Serbia, President Tudjman  Of Croatia, President Izetbegovic Of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Representatives Of The European Union, The Contact Group And Negotiating Team Members

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio. Released by the Office of the Spokesman, November 21, 1995

SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: President Izetbegovic, President Milosevic, President Tudjman, former Prime Minister Carl Bildt, Deputy Minister Ivanov, General Shalikashvili, Deputy Secretary White, Senator Jim Jefforrds, honored colleagues, guests, ladies and gentlemen.

Three weeks ago, the people of the United States welcomed all of us to Dayton and urged that the three Presidents seize this last best chance for peace in the former Yugoslavia.

Today, you will leave Dayton with a comprehensive agreement in hand. On this Thanksgiving weekend, our joint work has made it possible for the people of Bosnia to spend New Year's Day in peace for the first time in four years.

In a moment, the three Presidents will initial the agreement. They have come a long ways in the last 20 days, and their initialing here today will signal their determination to stay on the path of peace.

To the three Presidents, I especially want to thank you for your hard and skillful work over the last 20 days. You have cooperated splendidly and given a great deal of attention to these tough problems.

I will witness the agreement on behalf of the United States, as will Carl Bildt on behalf of the European Union and Deputy Minister Ivanov on behalf of the Russian Federation. The agreement will also be witnessed by the heads of the other Contact Group missions: Ambassador Jacques Blot of France, Wolfgang Ischinger of Germany, Pauline Neville Jones of the United Kingdom.

Before we begin today, I want to pay a special tribute on behalf of the United States and the other delegations here to the people of Dayton and especially to the people of the Wright- Patterson Air Force Base.

With very little time to prepare for this immensely complicated endeavor, the people of the base provided us with marvelous support from the very beginning.They created exactly the right atmosphere for success. Our choice of Wright - Patterson Air Base here in Dayton turned out to be better than we could possibly have expected, and we are grateful to all of you.

Now let's proceed with the initialing of the agreement.

( All parties initial the agreement. )

(Handshakes among the parties; followed by sustained applause.)

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