I very much appreciate the chance to attend the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conference and the dinner last night, which have given us opportunities to exchange views. The personal bonds that we build here will enable us to cooperate more effectively in every arena.

Strong ties with ASEAN are an essential element of America's engagement in the vital Asia-Pacific region. The United States is committed to working with ASEAN in a full and equal partnership, a partnership that covers the broad range of security, economic, and political issues that we discussed at the most recent meeting of the U.S.-ASEAN dialogue.

Our goals converge in many areas. We all recognize the need for a continuing U.S. presence in Asia. We all see the importance of an effective ASEAN Regional Forum. We all want to support democracy and stability in Cambodia, Burma and elsewhere. We all want to expand economic ties across the Pacific.

Our ties continue to grow. To say that currents of commerce and culture carry us toward a common destiny is not a flight of rhetoric but a reflection of reality. Since 1990, U.S. exports to ASEAN have grown an astounding 50%, making ASEAN our fourth largest export market and our second largest source of imports. The United States remain ASEAN's number one export market. Our two-way trade now exceeds $70 billion.

The benefit from our closer economic ties -- increased trade-related job growth -- will help sustain American public support for our continued security engagement in the region. So, too, will our military cooperation and access arrangements, in addition to the goodwill of the millions of Asian-Americans in the United States, whose living links to their homelands have added so much to the mosaic of'American life and culture.

As we approach the 21st century, we face an intimidating array of global and regional challenges. These include the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, illicit drug production and trafficking, the spread of AIDS Under-Secretary Joan, heads the U.S. delegations and other diseases, population growth, and environmental degradation.

These challenges facing the region defy the bounds of geography and ideology, and require a strong collective response. We want to maximize the positive and minimize the negative consequences of integration and interdependence. To do so, we will have to learn to cooperate more effectively.

Among our common economic priorities this year is approval of the Uruguay Round. We share an interest in opening markets, stimulating growth, and creating jobs. President Clinton is committed to implementing the Uruguay Round and inaugurating the new World Trade Organization in 1995. The President has sent the Uruguay Round implementing legislation to our Congress, where it is being vigorously debated. The implementation process will not be easy for any of us, but it must be done.

Each of us must also persuade our citizens of the importance of establishing the new World Trade Organization. In the late 1940's, we failed to ratify an agreement to create an international trade organization that would have extended the benefits of economic liberalization to the developing world. We should not make the same mistake again.

Other economic issues of continuing importance are intellectual property rights, investment and access to markets, primarily in the agriculture and service sectors. There has been encouraging movement in these areas, but we must take further measures to assure fairness and mutual benefits.

We must also take steps to address new trade issues such as trade and the environment, labor standards, competition policy and investment. The new World Trade Organization should work with other international organizations, such as the ILO, to pursue open markets and free trade. Working together, we must develop cooperative and multilateral approaches to these problems. We must ensure that our common efforts promote open trade, growth, and social development, non-protectionism.

We look forward to working with our partners in APEC to further trade liberalization in the region, and have high hopes that this year's APEC meetings hosted by Indonesia will build on the successes of Seattle. We fully support the four priority areas identified by Indonesia -- Human Resources Development, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs), infrastructure development, and private sector cooperation. All of this we will pursue in concert with our fundamental goal of advancing free trade in the region.

In recent months, much has been written highlighting real and imagined differences between East and West over human rights. I think it is important for all of us to acknowledge where we do agree. At the World Human Rights Conference in Vienna, we all joined in reaffirming the universality of human rights. We reject the notion that human rights and democratic institutions are Western exports with no Asian market. We believe that they are universal values with a demand in Asia no less than elsewhere.

We share, for example, a desire to support the new democratically elected Cambodian government. Despite continuing problems, Cambodia has made significant strides in the past year. To secure a lasting peace, the United States believes it is important not only to support the coalition government but also to integrate the fledgling Cambodian economy into regional economies. For our part, we are working to normalize our trade relations with Cambodia. That country deserves to take its place as a politically stable and economically self-sustaining member of the region.

In Burma, the military regime should heed the democratic aspirations of its people, adopt fundamental political reforms and respect human rights. This means the unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi, as demanded in successive resolutions by the UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Commission. On July 20, the fifth anniversary of Aung San Suu Kyi's detention, President Clinton called on the Burmese military junta to release from house arrest this courageous champion'of human rights. The United States looks forward to building in productive relationship with a stable, prosperous and democratic Burma, But as President Clinton said, "that process can begin only if the regime enters into a substantive dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi to resolve Burma's political impasse and to set it on a path to successful national development with the free and full participation of all its people."

While we share the same overall objective for Burma, namely the development of open political and economic systems, we have some differences on how to achieve this end.

Working with our partners, the United States will continue to promote human rights and democracy. We will do so with a frank acknowledgment of our own society's shortcomings. We will do so without arrogance or apology. We will do so with a keen understanding of each nation's uniqueness, but also with a firm commitment to universal aspirations. Each nation must find its own way. But, in an age of information and technology, we believe open political systems best foster economic development. And history shows that free societies make better neighbors and a more peaceful world.

We have differences we must acknowledge. But we should also remember what our peoples have in common. All of us want the opportunity to prosper, All of us want to be treated with dignity by our governments, to be entitled, as Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has put it, "to the full expression of our unique personality."

In that spirit, I look forward now to hearing your views on the range of issues before us. Thank you very much.