MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: President Clinton is in Switzerland to address the World Economic Forum. He's the first American president to speak to the annual gathering of political, business and cultural leaders. CNN's Kelly Wallace joining us from the resort town of Davos with more on the president and the Forum. Hello, Kelly.</s>KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, there, Miles. That's right, President Clinton is the first U.S. president to come to this gathering in the posh ski resort of Davos, Switzerland. Mr. Clinton arrived via helicopter from Zurich about three hours ago. His visit here in Davos will last barely six hours and the highlight, a speech he made to the global business and political community in which he said the best way to fuel the global economy is to open up markets.</s>WILLIAM J. CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have got to reaffirm unambiguously that open markets and rules based trade are the best engine we know of to lift living standards, reduce environmental destruction and build shared prosperity. This is true whether you're in Detroit, Davos, Dachau (ph) or Dakar (ph). Worldwide, open markets do create jobs. They do raise incomes. They do spark innovation and spread new technology.</s>WALLACE: This Davos meeting is the first global business conference since protesters disrupted the world trade talks in Seattle in December. Now, the Swiss police beefed up security in and around Davos out of concerns that protesters would make Davos another Seattle. But so far there have only been a handful of demonstrations. Now, Mr. Clinton mentioned Seattle in his speech. He said the world trading partners should listen to the messages sent by the demonstrators in Seattle that the World Trade Organization should open up its meetings and open up its process so that it can take into account concerns about free trade from labor groups and environmentalists. Mr. Clinton also reiterated his hope that China would enter the World Trade Organization this year. He said he hopes that U.S. Congress would agree for that. Kelly Wallace, CNN, reporting live from Davos, Switzerland.
Clinton Addresses World Economic Forum