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THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary
                          (Columbia, Missouri)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                       July 6, 2000

TEXT OF A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT TO THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF

REPRESENTATIVES AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE

July 6, 2000

Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)

I hereby transmit a Proclamation in which I have determined that it is appropriate to suspend preferential treatment for Belarus as a beneficiary developing country under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) because Belarus has not taken and is not taking steps to afford workers in Belarus internationally recognized worker rights. The Proclamation also determines that Malta, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, and Slovenia meet the definition of a "high income" country as defined by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and that therefore they will be graduated from the GSP, effective January 1, 2002.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON

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