It was with great pleasure that I accepted your invitation to appear before the National Press Club. I admire the work of the press. In Brazil, I used to contribute articles regularly to the weekly newspaper, "Opinião," which was one of the first to break with the authoritarian censorship of the 1970s. Writing for that paper was one of the first real political activities I undertook, since I had to abandon the academic language of a social scientist to employ a more direct political language. Later on, as a politician, I had the opportunity to write articles for other Brazilian newspapers.

A free and active press is one of the most valuable tools of a democracy. The press has played a decisive role in the redemocratization process in Brazil, and it continues to exercise an ongoing vigilance over the functioning of the country's institutions.

I am available for an open and frank discussion with everyone here.I will try to respond as directly as I can to the questions I am asked. But before this, I would like to share with you some of the main ideas that I have talked about during my state visit to the United States.

My visit to this great country is one of my first ventures abroad. I wanted it to be this way. While I was still President-elect, I met with President Clinton in Miami last December at the Summit of the Americas.

We discussed various issues on the international agenda and relations between Brazil and the United States. We shared mostly the same points of view. Brazil had played an important role, publicly recognized by President Clinton, in the success of the Summit. It was clear to me that both countries should elevate our relations to a new level. Our bilateral dialogue needed to make a qualitative leap that would reflect the myriad of shared interests between our two countries. It is the role of the President to give political impetus at the highest levels so that this will occur.

Brazil and the United States share the same democratic values and the same principles of the market economy. Not as abstract values or ends in themselves, but rather as the best path for promoting the well-being and prosperity of their citizens.

The affinity between our two countries goes beyond our general values to the more concrete level of collective behavior in our two societies. The United States and Brazil were and continue to be the lands of opportunity. The real prospects for attaining prosperity have definitively shaped the character of our peoples.

The desire for progress and the resulting social mobility are traits common to both countries. We both recognize the ethical value of embarking upon an undertaking and creating wealth with our efforts, not only for its own sake but also for the community.

In this post Cold War era, the importance of partnerships is no longer measured only by the strategic standards which formerly dominated it. The end of the Cold War ends the monopoly of strategic variables. Partnerships are built on potentials revealed in other areas; on an affinity of political vision; on trade and investment prospects; on the basis of technology; on the possibilities of joint action in international fora, and on a convergence of views on the important items of the international agenda.

With a stable and growing Brazilian economy, trade flows between the two countries have expanded considerably. The reforms we are undertaking to promote conditions favoring continuous growth will create opportunities for new and productive investments in Brazil.

My trip to the United States will consolidate and reinforce a positive phase in our bilateral relationship. Favorable relations mean that today we can get to know each other in a positive sense. We have left behind the misunderstandings which frequently resulted from the absence of necessary dialogue, and we can now pursue more complex issues in which we have a shared interest.

We have recently created a Business Development Council to advance bilateral trade relations. We are taking the necessary steps to promote the hemispheric integration process. We both have clear commitments to the various mechanisms of integration and free trade to which we belong: Brazil to MERCOSUL, and the United States to NAFTA. But the coming together of these two frameworks is desirable and necessary, based on the common aims of the two largest trade agreements in the hemisphere in terms of volume. This will undoubtedly require very complex negotiations, since MERCOSUL and NAFTA are agreements of differing scope and amplitude. Nevertheless, in our meeting, President Clinton and I reiterated our commitments to the hemispheric integration we had endorsed at the Miami Summit.

I would like to make a few additional comments concerning some aspects of current Brazilian life. Brazil is an enormous country. Its economy is among the ten largest in the world. Its population is over 160 million. It is also a country with a peaceful tradition, and it has no external conflicts with any other countries. So we have a natural direction outward, and we would like to broaden it. For this reason we are assuming increasing international responsibilities. Recently, as coordinator of the Rio Protocol countries, we played an important role in finding a peaceful solution to the border conflict between Peru and Ecuador.

I was personally involved in the efforts that led to an end of hostilities. Brazil has also broadened its role in peacekeeping operations led by the United Nations; particularly in countries that are closest to us.

I want to mention another aspect of the Brazil of today: its currency stabilization, together with the growth that the Brazilian economy has been experimenting. Brazil's GDP grew by 5.7% in 1994, with inflation under control. The Brazilian economy has responded successfully to the challenge of increased competitiveness. Trade liberalization was followed in Brazil, as in no other developing country, by a true modernization and improvement in productivity and quality. Brazil has the largest and most sophisticated industrial sector of the developing economies. It is also a large producer and exporter of food.

The recent adjustment measures of the Real Plan, such as the increase in import tariffs for some products, were designed to achieve the objective of stabilization. They were necessary measures and were taken after a careful analysis of all of the alternatives. They do not in any way mean an about-face in the process of trade liberalization; they are temporary measures. It would be irresponsible to ignore these scheduled adjustment measures of the Real Plan at a time when important variables on the international scene have changed.

We have a fully functioning democracy in Brazil. This is what guarantees that governmental actions will always be transparent. It is what assures the continuity of the economic reforms needed to sustain the Real Plan. It is the best protection against corruption. One of the biggest steps forward that Brazil has taken in recent years was precisely this change in mentality, in which honesty and the renunciation of corruption are no longer merely individual values; they are now collective ones. We went through the impeachment of a President and through an internal process in Congress that led to the removal of those members accused of corruption. Brazilian society is no longer prepared to make concessions in its demand for justice, honesty, and ethical conduct. Democracy does not function this way: the citizen who votes is the citizen who expects results. The country no longer has any margin of tolerance for corruption.

I was elected based on a program that included stabilization and the reforms to ensure it. But that program complemented the stability agenda with broad social measures. I am a founding member of the Brazilian Social Democratic Party, and I have made a commitment to a set of principles.

Being a Social Democrat in Brazil does not only mean accepting the correction of social imbalances as the priority goal for a country characterized by social divisions; it means going beyond this. It means the reorienting of resources and the State's capability for action toward the objectives of providing basic services like education and health care to all. It means that the Government must be a catalyst for the necessary changes. To do this, it must establish bridges with civil society and community organizations to assure that Government action reaches the average citizen, it is necessary first to hear his demands and then to decentralize and coordinate the actions of government agencies at various levels.

My Government's social program is based on a partnership between Government and society, and on a notion of rationalizing the application of resources. In truth, it is not that resources are really lacking for the Brazilian government's social programs.

Rather, the resources that are available were being used inefficiently, because they were allocated in accordance with a philosophy of assistance that, beyond being ineffective, has lent itself to diversions and politically-motivated manipulation.

Correcting imbalances today begins most importantly with promoting a greater equality of conditions at the beginning of life for all Brazilians, creating essentially equal access to education and health care. A strong nation cannot be built when a large part of its population has no future. A population in which the right to express its potential, its ability to achieve, is denied from the start.

Finally, I bring a message of a new Brazil to all of you journalists gathered here, a Brazil that is reinvigorated by growth and democracy. With an important social agenda whose objective is to recover the notion of citizenship in the country.

It is a Brazil that is working things out.

It is a Brazil that wants to demonstrate its good qualities and strengths, but which does not deny or hide its negative aspects, perhaps because, fortunately, it has a free and active press. In this respect, we are similar. A strong trait that the two countries share is the influence of a creative and truly free press.

I hope that this positive message I bear from Brazil will reach the largest possible audience here in the United States.

The job of the press is to expand the perception of Brazil as a country able to offer a new and promising partnership to the most diverse sectors of American society.