employees and military personnel.

The total cost of these pay increases is $1,080 million. The appropriations I am requesting today, together with the $339 million supplemental appropriation requested last week, amounts to $818 million-$262 million less than the full cost of the increases.

I do not intend to ask Congress for the remaining $262 million. I am pleased to report that this amount will be met from available funds, as a result of tighter management in response to my request that agencies absorb the costs of the pay increases to the fullest possible extent without interrupting essential services and functions.

Many agencies were able to absorb 100

percent of the additional cost of the pay increase. Overall, some 24 percent of the pay increase is being met by economies and efficiencies in operations.

This is being done by leaving unfilled less essential job vacancies as they occur, by cost reduction programs, and other management improvements.

These actions are the result of a growing cost consciousness at all levels of the executive branch. They are the fruits of our efforts to use each tax dollar wisely and well.

NOTE: The appropriations requested by the President were included in the Second Supplemental Appropriation Act, 1967, approved on May 29, 1967 (Public Law 90-21; 81 Stat. 30).

THE FORTUNES of the Kennedy Round will greatly influence the future of international trade. Agreement by the United States and other trading nations on tariff reductions providing new opportunities and stimulation for productive enterprises everywhere will open the path to a world economy of abundance.

On the other hand, if such reductions

cannot be managed, if narrow special interests prevail, divisive forces may gain the upper hand, with grave damage to the economic and political fabric of the world community.

William Roth combines all the assets this Nation should bring to bear on so important. a problem.

He was Governor Herter's deputy for

more than 3 years. He has had a part in every step on this long road. He knows his fellow negotiators, and they know and respect him.

Ambassador Roth has just returned from Geneva, where he reports that agreement has been reached on a timetable for bringing negotiations to a successful conclusion. This is good news for all nations. The world may be certain that the United States will be ready to move as quickly and imaginatively as our partners.

Successful conclusion of the Kennedy Round will not mark the end of the drive toward trade liberalization. Ambassador Roth will begin preparations for a long-range study of our foreign trade policy. He will

recommend such legislative and other measures as may be required.

Ambassador Roth will focus this study on ways of improving the trade positions of the developing countries as well as further. reduction of trade barriers between industrialized nations.

A Public Advisory Committee will assist Ambassador Roth and will consult with Members of the Congress and other interested and knowledgeable people both here and abroad.

NOTE: The President spoke at 11:30 a.m. in his office at the White House. During his remarks he referred to Christian A. Herter, former Governor of Massachusetts who previously served as Special Representative for Trade Negotiations.

Maiwandwal of Afghanistan.

Mr. Prime Minister, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:

I am very happy, on behalf of all Americans, to welcome you back to our country, Mr. Prime Minister, and to this Capital City that you know so well.

All of us will remember that you came here before as the Ambassador from your country. Today you return as Prime Minister. We are very proud that a good friend who lived among us has found time to pay us a cordial visit in the position of great trust and distinction which you now hold.

Mr. Prime Minister, Afghanistan is far from us in miles and hours as we meet here this morning. But for us it is no longer a distant, far-off, remote place.

Countless Americans have come to know your country and to know your people.

President Eisenhower was your guest. Their Majesties King Zahir and Queen Homaira are warmly remembered by all of

March 28, 1967

us for their visit here in 1963.

Ambassador Pazhwak is our good neighbor in New York where he now serves as President of the United Nations General Assembly.

So we meet today as friends. We live on opposite sides of the globe, yet we have much in common:

-Your land, like ours, has a strong tradi

tion of freedom and independence. -Your people, like ours, cherish diver

sity while they seek unity in mutual

respect and justice.

-You, like us, are experimenters in the

art of government and social reform. -And we share a common dedication to peace, and to the ideal of a world community based on freedom.

Mr. Prime Minister, these are only a few of the ties which bind our nations and our peoples together. Historically, the relations between our countries have been very close

395

and cordial. Today they are warmer than ever before. It is a very great honor and privilege to have you with us to discuss an even more productive future.

We are so happy that you could come to our land.

Thank you.

NOTE: The President spoke at 11:38 a.m. on the South Lawn at the White House where Prime Minister Mohammad Hashim Maiwandwal was given a formal welcome with full military honors. The Prime Minister responded as follows:

Mr. President:

I wish to thank Your Excellency most sincerely for your warm words of welcome and kind expressions of friendship towards Afghanistan.

First, I have the honor to convey the heartfelt greetings of my sovereign, King Mohammad Zahir, to you personally and, through you, to the Government and the people of the United States of America.

His Majesty recalls with the greatest of pleasure and satisfaction the cordial hospitality accorded to him and Her Majesty, Queen Homaira, during their memorable state visit to the United States in September 1963.

For my own part, I wish to thank you for inviting me to make this visit to the United States which I remember so fondly from my two previous official assignments in this country.

It will afford me a welcome opportunity to meet and talk with you, Mr. President, as well as other officials and citizens of the United States, including many old friends.

Although a considerable geographic distance separates our two countries, our common belief and devotion to liberty and respect for the inherent dignity of man has bridged this distance.

I am confident that my visit will serve

144

to

strengthen and promote the friendly and cultural relations which so happily have prevailed between Afghanistan and the United States since the establishment of formal ties in 1943.

I find it an interesting and noteworthy coincidence that the day before yesterday, my first full day in the United States on this visit, marked the anniversary of the signing of the historic agreement in Paris 31 years ago establishing diplomatic and consular representation between our two countries for the first time.

It was during these years that Afghan students began coming to the United States for higher studies, and the flow has increased steadily through the years since then.

Also over the past 20 years many Americans have been coming to Afghanistan to assist our country in its economic development, along with specialists and technicians of other countries and the United Nations.

Afghanistan is engaged in an all-out effort to develop its economy while at the same time modernizing its political and social institutions.

Our people deeply appreciate the assistance which the friendly countries, including the United States, have contributed to these goals.

Afghanistan follows a policy of active nonalignment, and is determined to exercise its free judgment in international affairs.

It endeavors wherever possible to serve the cause of international peace and the rights of nations and peoples in the firm belief that only in peace can the progress of all nations, including Afghanistan, be assured, and that international understanding is the best way of insuring human prosperity throughout the world.

My Government is strongly dedicated to working for reform in the economic, political, social, and cultural affairs in the country.

I am looking forward, Mr. President, to friendly exchanges of views with you and other members of your Government in the hope that they may contribute to the achievement of the peace and prosperity for which we and our peoples strive. Thank you, Mr. President.

reminded us that, although their country and ours are half a world apart, we are neighbors in thought and we are kindred in spirit.

Today it is our good fortune to welcome the distinguished diplomat, the professor and the journalist who heads the Government of Afghanistan.

You, sir, are no stranger here with us. You are, rather, an old and very honored friend of many in this room, and of many more elsewhere in this city and in this Nation.

There was a time, Mr. Prime Minister, when we knew little of your country, except that it was a land of adventure, a romantic land where cultures met, rich history was written, a place where spirited and sturdy men fought with pride to maintain and to keep their independence.

We know this still, but now we know a great deal more about your land.

We know today that you and your countrymen, under the leadership of His Majesty King Zahir, have set as your high goal Afghanistan's "experiment in democracy."

We know today what you are doing to develop your country. We know what you are doing to enrich the lives of all of your people.

Mr. Prime Minister, we here in America, all of us, are very proud to be associated with you in that effort.

If it would be useful to you, Mr. Prime Minister, if you think it would be helpful, we are prepared to send to your country a team of this Nation's best agricultural experts, directed by Secretary Freeman, who would be delighted to work with your specialists in the vital achievement of agricultural self-sufficiency that we both know is so very important to this and to future generations.

Mr. Prime Minister, you have come to visit with us just after the festival of the New Year in your country. That season, like the coming of spring for us, is a time of reaffirmation and rededication. It is a time when we can, together, rededicate ourselves to the great tasks that each of us, in our own way, in our own land, are trying so hard to do: -to build a better framework of social justice for all of our people;

-to devote our energies and our resources
to better lives for all of our people;
-to strengthen the strong roots of free-
dom and the spirit of independence that
has motivated us both throughout our
histories;

-and, most important of all, to make a contribution, individually and collectively, to a lasting peace among men throughout the world.

This morning as we were talking, the Secretary General of the United Nations. made public the main lines of his new proposal for a general truce and cessation of hostilities in Vietnam. He presented that proposal to our honored and most distinguished Ambassador, Arthur Goldberg, who is privileged to be with us here today, in New York first on March 14th.

On March 15th, under Secretary Rusk's and Ambassador Goldberg's direction, we promptly replied, welcoming the proposal and noting that it contains “constructive and positive elements toward bringing a peaceful settlement of the Vietnam conflict."

We promptly told the Secretary General that we would be consulting immediately with the Government of South Vietnam and with our other allies, and that we would provide him with a full and very prompt reply. On March 15th we said that.

On March 18th Ambassador Goldberg delivered that reply. It was positive. It was definitive. It was affirmative.

The Government of Vietnam also responded constructively.

Yesterday we regretfully learned from Radio Hanoi that they were informing the world that they apparently were not prepared to accept the Secretary General's proposal. As they stated through their radio, "The Vietnam problem has no concern with the United Nations, and the United Nations has absolutely no right to interfere in

any way with the Vietnam question."

We respectfully disagree. War and peace are concerns of the United Nations. They are concerns of all people.

We welcome the efforts of not only the United Nations but any nation, large or small, if they have any suggestion or any contribution they are prepared to make.

I would hope that the Secretary General was correct this morning when he said that none of the parties has categorically-categorically-turned his plan down.

We have seen over the past several years— and, yes, recently in the past several months-one effort after another to bring peace to Southeast Asia fail because Hanoi rejected it.

But, Mr. Prime Minister and honored guests, I want everyone who can hear my voice or see my words to know that this Nation will continue to persist. Deep in our history is the memory of what President Abraham Lincoln said to his countrymen in the dark days of 1861:

"Suppose you go to war, you cannot fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides, and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical old questions as to terms of intercourse are again upon you." In Southeast Asia the terms for the relations among states were set in and 1962 1954 by international accords. In the end they must be honored. In the end the people of South Vietnam must be given the chance to determine their destiny without external interference.

So all of our power, our intelligence, and our imagination will be devoted in the future, as in the past, to bringing that day

nearer.

As we meet here in this spring, in this period of dedication, this spring of 1967, let us together pledge anew our dedication to the achievement of the objectives of social

justice, devoting our energy and resources to better lives; to strengthen the roots of freedom and independence, and to making a contribution, individually and collectively, to peace among men.

Mr. Prime Minister, I have no doubt after our extended visit today, that we are joined in these objectives and in this resolve.

Now I should like to ask our friends who have come here from other parts of the Nation out of friendship and respect for the distinguished Prime Minister to join me in a toast to His Majesty King Zahir and to the great Nation of Afghanistan.

NOTE: The President proposed the toast at 2:17 p.m. at a luncheon in the State Dining Room at the White House. Prime Minister Maiwandwal responded as follows:

President Johnson, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen:

I wish to thank you again, Mr. President, as I had the occasion to do on my arrival earlier this morning, for your very kind words of welcome to me personally, and your expressions of friendship for my country and the people of Afghanistan.

It is gratifying to know that the visit of Their Majesties, the King and Queen of Afghanistan, in 1963, is still so fondly remembered in this country. I can assure you that the friendly sentiments you have expressed are warmly reciprocated by them.

I am pleased to be here and to visit the United States again.

Mr. President, the experiment of Afghanistan in democracy, I am proud to confirm, is a noble endeavor and is in full swing under the wise and benevolent leadership and guidance of His Majesty, our King.

When he visited the United States in autumn 1963, this experiment was merely a new seed planted in our ancient soil, but it has been carefully nurtured since then and now has grown into a sturdy young plant.

Its blossoms include a liberal new constitution which appeared in 1964, free nationwide parliamentary elections by universal suffrage and secret ballot in 1965; establishment of an independent parliament representative of their Nation, and the adoption of a host of progressive new laws designed to reform and modernize our society and political institutions.

Our experiment, in short, has had a healthy start and is beginning to bear fruit.

But we have chosen to modernize not on merely