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7337967
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Exchange of Toasts between the President and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
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7337967
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Exchange of Toasts between the President and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
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White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
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Dinners and dining
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1975-02-05
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1975
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Digitized from Box 7 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FEBRUARY 5, 1975
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
THE WHITE HOUSE
EXCHANGE OF TOASTS
BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT
AND
ZULFIKAR ALI BHUTTO
PRIME MINISTER OF THE
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN
THE STATE FLOOR
9:56 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Prime Minister, Begum Bhutto,
and our distinguished guests from Pakistan as well as
the United States:
We are deeply grateful that all of you are here
and we are especially thankful that the distinguished guests
have come to our great country.
We think this is a very special evening. We,
as Americans, have the honor of welcoming a true friend of
America, the Head of State of Pakistan, to our Nation's
capital, Washington, D. C.
I am delighted to have had the opportunity this
morning to meet with the Prime Minister. We had a fruitful,
beneficial and enjoyable meeting this morning and we are
delighted, Mr. Prime Minister, to have you and Begum Bhutto
with us this evening.
We are also especially pleased and honored to have
your two children -- two of your four children -- with us
on this occasion. I think it is interesting, but also
somewhat unique, that your children are going to school
in our great country and we are delighted to have them
and we hope that they have enjoyed themselves, and are
enjoying themselves. We are not only pleased but honored
that they are with us in the United States for this experience.
It is, I think, particularly noteworthy, Mr. Prime
Minister, that you and Begum Bhutto are here and that she
has particularly joined you in this visit, and she has
joined you on previous occasions working for the best
interests of your people in your country and I compliment
her as well as yourself for these efforts.
The world knows, Mr. Prime Minister, that the
burdens of leadership fell on you at a time in the history
of Pakistan which was one of the most critical and the most
serious in the history of your country.
MORE
Page 2
But with confidence and great determination, you
have guided your nation through a period -- an era -- of peace
and reconciliation. Your accomplishments, as well as your
courage, I think, have received the highest pràise, both
within your country and without.
Our first official meeting represents another link
in the chain of a much longer association between the leaders
and the peoples of Pakistan and the United States. And
we want to maintain and to strengthen that relationship
and that friendship that has been most important between
your country and ours.
The talks that we had this morning, I think, helped
to strengthen and to broaden that relationship.
As we know, peace in the world depends upon peace
in its various parts. Your leadership, Mr. Prime Minister,
has enabled Pakistan to move forward with India toward
achieving peace in that very important area of the world.
I am tremendously impressed by the efforts that
you are promoting in economic and agricultural developments
for Pakistan despite the serious problems posed, as we all
know, by the rapid rise of price levels for essential goods
in your country.
And as you persevere, Mr. Prime Minister, persevere
in your task, you may be sure that this Government regards
the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of a strong,
secure and prosperous Pakistan as a fundamental element
in maintaining regional and world peace.
So, if I might, Mr. Prime Minister, let me propose
a toast to you, Prime Minister and Begum Bhutto, to the
ideals and to the hopes they personify so very well, and to
further strengthening of our relations between our two countries.
To Prime Minister and Begum Bhutto.
PRIME MINISTER BHUTTO: Mr. President, Mrs. Ford,
distinguished friends:
At the outset, I would like to say that my com-
panions -- those who have come with me from Pakistan -- on
their behalf and on behalf of the people of my country and
on my own behalf, we would like to thank you, Mr. President,
and your Government for the very warm and generous hospitality
which you have extended to us.
I have been here on a number of occasions and each
occasion has been a memorable one because it has been a
journey to the capital of a great power, a superpower,
a power to reckon with, a power which has a role to play in
the tranquilization of the world situation and has exercised
a formidable influence on men and matters for a very long
period of time.
MORE
Page 3
Here at this table we had the honor of having a
very congenial conversation with Mrs. Ford and the very
dangerous man sitting on my right. (Laughter)
He told us that this evening he came to the White
House in a taxi, so that reminded me of one occasion during
my many visits to your great capital, and it was in 1965.
President Ayub was then in charge of the destiny of our
country and we had prolonged discussions with President
Johnson.
The discussions went well, but at the same time
we left the room in a little distress, so I and my com-
panions went to all the night clubs in Washington. (Laughter)
And when we left the last place, we told the taxi
driver to take us to Blair House. He said, "Are you kidding?"
(Laughter)
Be that as it may, we warmly cherish our friendship and
our association with the great American people.
As I told you this morning, Mr. President, the vitality
and the energy of the American people have impressed us very
much and has impressed the world at large.
I have often thought of your great values. I might
be wrong, but I feel that it lies in your institutions and it
lies in the leadership that the American Government has given
to its own people and to the world at large at critical times.
These are critical times, and you have been summoned
by destiny to take charge of the affairs of your country at
a time when the world stands at the watershed. And many of
your decisions might make, or mar the course of events.
We feel that with your vision and with the very
able leftenants that you have, especially in the field
of foreign affairs, that you will overcome one challenge after
another and promote the cause of peace and good will.
MORE
Page 4
There are problems which confront you internally,
there are problems which confront you in the world outside,
the Middle East, Europe, your efforts to promote a detente,
your dialogue with China, all the world watches. Every
step you take is observed and so we hope, with the passage of
time, we will turn the corner, all of us put together -- the
whole world.
You will make a very major contribution but whatever
little contribution, small, insignificant, under-developed
countries like ours can make, we will all be happier to
see a happier world.
And I can assure you that on our part we will try
to promote peace and consolidate the tissues of peace. We
would not like to add tension to tension. We would not
like to aggravate the situation in our own region, and the
world at large can move forward to a situation where
our children, at least, will feel more secure and happier
and they will admire the role that this present generation
made to achieve that noble end.
This is a beautiful world and we must preserve
its beauty. Future generations should not say that, like
Shelley, the superpowers found an osymandius. They should
say that the superpowers, with bravery, and with vision, and
with courage reckoned with the problems and overcame them.
We know that you have the capacity and the material
and the ability to do so and we leave your shores feeling more
reassured with the measures that you have taken to promote
those Olympian ends.
Finally, Mr. President, I would like to reiterate
our gratitude to you, to your Secretary of State, to your
colleagues here, to the Senators we met today, for the
understanding of the problems that we face and for their
objective appreciation of our difficulties. This has been
a fruitful and a constructive visit.
I better not say more than that because the
Secretary of State has told me that you must be very careful
of what you say. (Laughter)
So, I would like everyone to join me in a toast to
the President of the United States, to Mrs. Ford, to the
great American people and to the role of the United States
in the consolidation of world peace.
Mr. President.
END (AT 10:11 P.M. EST)