Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to welcome you here on the eastern side of the Brandenburg Gate, at the heart of Berlin, which is vividly starting to beat again. I welcome Bill Clinton, the political innovator, the President of the United States of America, who has led his country with optimistic vision and pragmatic actions into a new, dynamic, creative and prosperous departure.
Berlin is a symbol of the links between our peoples.
This afternoon you visited the grave of Frederick the Great in Sans Souci. That was no coincidence. In doing so, you recalled the excellent relations Prussia cultivated at the time of enlightenment with that bold new project, the United States of America. Two centuries later, Germany and Berlin profited from the success of this enterprise in an unforgettable way through the generous assistance given to this city and the western part of Germany by the American people after the second world war. The world has changed.