with -- with our french and british partners, the united states is prepared to help bring international meetings to berlin. it would be only fitting for berlin to serve as the site of united nations meetings, or world conferences on human rights and arms control or other issues that call for international cooperation.
there is no better way to establish hope for the future than to enlighten young minds, and we would be honored to sponsor summer youth exchanges, cultural events, and other programs for young berliners from the east. our french and british friends, i'm certain, will do the same. and it's my hope that an authority can be found in east berlin to sponsor visits from young people of the western sectors.
one final proposal, one close to my heart: sport represents a source of enjoyment and ennoblement, and you may have noted that the republic of korea -- south korea -- has offered to permit certain events of the 1988 olympics to take place in the north. international sports competitions of all kinds could take place in both parts of this city. and what better way to demonstrate to the world the openness of this city than to offer in some future year to hold the olympic games here in berlin, east and west.
in these four decades, as i have said, you berliners have built a great city. you've done so in spite of threats -- the soviet attempts to impose the east-mark, the blockade. today the city thrives in spite of the challenges implicit in the very presence of this wall. what keeps you here? certainly there's a great deal to be said for your fortitude, for your defiant courage. but i believe there's something deeper, something that involves berlin's whole look