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Exchange of Toasts between the President and Anwar Al-Sadat, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt
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7341340
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Exchange of Toasts between the President and Anwar Al-Sadat, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt
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White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
Press Releases
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Dinners and dining
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7341340
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1975-10-27
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1975
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Digitized from Box 17 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 27, 1975
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
THE WHITE HOUSE
EXCHANGE OF TOASTS
BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT
AND
ANWAR EL-SADAT
PRESIDENT OF THE
ARAB REPUBLIC OF EGYPT
THE STATE FLOOR
10:14 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. President, Mrs. Sadat,
ladies and gentlemen:
It is obviously a very, very great honor to have
Mrs. Sadat and you with us this evening, and particularly
for me to have the opportunity today, tonight and tamorrow,
and next Sunday, to strengthen our personal relationship.
Although you have been in cur country before, Mr.
President, this is the first State visit by an Egyptian
President to visit the United States. I believe your visit,
Mr. President, symbolizes the very close working relationship
of our two countries and what has been achieved in the last
two years.
We honor you tonight as a friend of the United
States and for your commitment to provide your people many
of the same goals that the American people have striven
for and cherished over the long two hundred years of our
young history.
You are committed, I know from our personal dis-
cussions, to improving the conditions of life for all
Egyptians, and for the people of the entire Arab world.
You have recognized that we must work together
to overcome the tragedy of unfulfilled lives, lives marked
by disease, malnutrition, undereducation, underemployment
and the devastation of war.
Americans -- and I say this from personal contact
-- respect your vigorous pursuit of peace and your efforts
to devote your nation's energy and your nation's resources
not to continue conflict, but to meet the needs of your
people.
MORE
Page 2
We in the United States are committed to work
with you toward such worthy goals. Failure to achieve
peace in the Middle East will affect the lives of Americans
and the lives of our friends in the Middle East, and
actually throughout the world.
We share your deep belief and conviction that
nations can gain much by working together. Your courage,
Mr. President, in taking the first steps toward peace after
almost three decades of warfare assures your place in
history in the Middle East, and we congratulate you for it.
You are the man, Mr. President, whoassumed the
lead in ending a conflict that for more than a generation
absorbed the lives, the energies and the substance of many,
many nations. We have been proud to work with you in this
very noble cause, and we will continue to do SO.
Mr. President, I know from my conversations with
you that we had in Salzburg, and from our many other exchanges,
that your dedication to peace is for all the people of the
Middle East. I say again tonight, emphatically and categor-
ically, that we share the view that the process of making
peace for all must continue.
No step we have taken can be an end to itself,
There can be no peace until the legitimate interests of all
the peoples of the Middle East are taken fairly into account
in a final peace settlement.
I wish to address a special word, Mr. President,
to your charming wife. My own wife, Betty, is doing much
to inform me about the rights and the problems and the
desires of women in the new freedoms of modern society.
(Laughter) Sometimes she things I am an apt -- and sometimes
a less than apt -- pupil. (Laughter)
But anyhow, I am pleased to observe that Mrs.
Sadat has distinguished herself in your nation by her con-
tributions to both the well being of all Egyptians and to
a new consciousness of the status of women and the efforts
in your country to achieve equality of opportunity.
Ladies and gentlemen, I ask that you join me in
a toast to the President of Egypt and to our mutual
objectives.
To the President.
MORE
Page 3
PRESIDENT EL-SADAT: Mr. President, Mrs. Ford,
ladies and gentlemen:
First of all, I would like to thank President
Ford for his kind words and express my sincere appreciation
for the warm reception the American people have accorded to
me and my family.
It was a great pleasure to respond to President
Ford's invitation to visit your beautiful country and meet
with its hospitable people. I come here with a message of
friendship and amity fromthe Egyptian people to every
American. I welcome the opportunity to pursue with President
Ford the talks we held and the contacts we have maintained
over the past few months on several issues of mutual interest
and common concern.
It is my feeling and sincere hope that this visit
will contribute significantly to furthering American
relations in all domains, and will consolidate the ties of
friendship and understanding between the American people
and the Arab nation.
On the eve of your Bicentennial, I would like you
to know that we share with you the determination to utilize
the legacy of the past to pave the way for a better future,
not only for our two peoples, but for the entire family
of man.
We share with you, too, the hope of fulfilling
the great ideals of democracy, human dignity and equality.
Mr. President, the past two years have witnessed
a tangible improvement in our relations. For the most part,
the credit for such an improvement is due to a greater
degree of American understanding of our just cause and our
legitimate struggle to establish peace in the area.
We feel, rightly I hope, that the events following
October 1973 have dissipated many misconceptions and myths
that marred the healthy development of our relations for so
long. As you know, we have always maintained that if the
United States adopted an even-handed policy in the Middle
East, there would be no problem between us.
We expressed our readiness to respond positively
to any favorable change in American policy. Thus, when
there appeared some indications that the United States has
started to see the realities in their true perspective,
matters began to move in the right direction.
MORE
Page 4
Bridges of friendships and channels of communi-
cation were established for our mutual benefit. You have
my assurance that we intend to spare no effort to strengthen
our relations even further and broaden the scope of our
cooperation.
The Egyptian people -- and in fact, the entire
Arab nation -- expect the United States to continue to
demonstrate by words and deeds alike its genuine interest
in reaching a final peace settlement.
We recognize and acknowledge with satisfaction
the role you have played in the past few months to stimulate
and accelerate the process of a final settlement. We
realize also that it is your firm and solemn commitment to
pursue this policy until the ideal of peace becomes a
living reality.
We do not question your dedication to work
seriously and tirelessly towards that end. However, you
would agree with me, Mr. President, that we cannot allow
the situation to slip back to a state of no war and no
peace. We feel that the momentum for peace should not be
squandered under any circumstances.
Rather, it should be utilized fully, and with a
sense of urgency commensurate with the still persisting
danger of explosion. Any stalemate or stagnation will not
only delay the settlement, but in all probability it would
introduce certain qualitative and substantive changes that
would obstruct the road to peace.
I trust that it has become quite evident that if
we are really concerned with an overall settlement, we have
to address ourselves to the core of the problem; namely,
the Palestinian question. The Palestinian people have been
deprived for over 27 years of having their own State where
they can lead a productive and fulfilling life.
Are they not entitled to their national rights
like all other peoples? Would it not be a travesty of
justice to deny them the inalienable right to live in peace
and dignity. Does it serve any useful purpose to perpetuate
the state of strife and frustration?
Fortunately, there are increasing signs that their
cause is gaining more international support every day.
Nations are coming to grips with the reality of the Palestine
people as an indispensible factor in the equation of peace
in the Middle East.
MORE
Page 5
Many Arabs are confident that the United States
will not dissent from this irreversible trend. They feel,
not without reason, that faithfulness to the essence of the
American Revolution and the heritage bequeathed upon this
Nation by its Founding Fathers entail lending the Palestinians
your understanding and support, thus reinforcing the road to
peace.
We can all be assured that once the Palestinians
have been accorded their basic right as a free people,
they will become a force for peace, stability and human
progress. Reason and reconciliation would prevail over
animosity and hostility.
Americans can understand, perhaps better than
any other people, man's attachment to his land, for this has
been one of the main characteristics of the American
culture. Such relationship instills in us a strong love
for our country and a devotion to defend it, no matter what
the sacrifice is.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to say that
you have a President you can be proud of. Throughout my
contacts with him, I have found him a statesman of great
ability, vision and understanding. He is a genuine man who
radiates sincerity and honesty. It shall give me and the
Egyptian people immense pleasure to welcome him and Mrs.
Ford in Egypt in the near future.
May I ask you, ladies and gentlemen, to join me
in a toast in honor of President and Mrs. Ford, wishing
them health, happiness and fulfillment.
Thank you.
END
(AT 10:31 P.M. EDT)