The United States is confident in the ability of Saudi Arabia to continue to provide a secure and uninterrupted flow of oil to the world, Secretary of State Colin Powell said June 1, responding to questions about the recent terrorist attacks targeting Western workers in that country.

In a joint press availability with Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili after their meeting at the State Department, Powell told a reporter:

"I have no reason to doubt [the Saudis'] ability to do that. They are doing it now and they are making a commitment to do more. And there will be OPEC meetings later this week to see what the international oil community is prepared to do, but I have confidence in the ability of the Saudi Arabians to continue to provide a secure flow of oil products."

Powell also discussed the appointment of the new Iraqi interim government and the removal of Russian bases from Georgia.

Asked about the makeup of the new Iraqi interim government, Powell praised U.N. Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi for a "tremendous job." He said the Iraqi people will now see that the occupation "is coming to an end in that their political leaders are in charge." The United States, he said, is there "in partnership with the new interim Iraqi government" to help with security, reconstruction, international support and preparation for elections.

"This is a government that is fully deserving of our support, the support of the international community," Powell said.

Regarding the Russian bases, Powell reiterated the U.S. position that the bases no longer serve a real military purpose and should be removed. He expressed confidence that "in the months ahead, with continued goodwill on the part of all parties, we'll find a way forward."

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
June 1, 2004

REMARKS

SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN L. POWELL
AND GEORGIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SALOME ZOURABICHVILI
AFTER THEIR MEETING

June 1, 2004
C Street Entrance
Washington, D.C.

(10:05 a.m. EDT)

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It's my great pleasure to be here today with my new Georgian Foreign Minister, Foreign Minister Zourabichvili. We have had a good conversation discussing bilateral matters.

I had the opportunity to express our thanks for Georgia's continued support to our efforts in Iraq and also to discuss the historic transformation that has taken place in Georgia over the last, I guess, seven months now, and the United States is pleased to have been of assistance during that period. We have a close, warm, good relationship with Georgia at every level, with the President, Prime Minister and, of course, with the people of Georgia. And I reassured the Minister that that will remain the case and we'll do everything we can in the future to build our relationship and take it to a higher level.

We stay in close touch with our Russian friends as well. And as I have said on a number of occasions, Georgia is a place where the United States and Russia can work together to assist the Georgians in building a stable democracy, to eliminating all forms of corruption, and becoming an important and valued member of the transatlantic and European community. And so, Madame Minister, it's a great pleasure to have you here, and I invite you to say a word or two.

FOREIGN MINISTER ZOURABICHVILI: Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary, and it's a great honor for me and I'm really very proud to be here today and to present what I consider to be as a Georgian success story in democracy and in solving the main difficulties we had on that earlier road of towards democracy and towards European and Euro-Atlantic integration.

We are moving with determination, we are moving relatively fast, and we are moving with great hope. And a lot of that is due to the support that we have received from our American friends, and that has been very important for the Georgian population and it will remain very important. So I want to thank you very personally for that.

SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you. George.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, do you have any response to the political events in Baghdad today, and particularly on whether Mr. Brahimi has played the role you envisioned he would play or whether the Iraqi Governing Council has played a stronger role than you envisioned they would play?

SECRETARY POWELL: Mr. Brahimi has done a tremendous job and we're very pleased with the outcome. He played the role that we had anticipated. He went to Baghdad. He spoke to people all over the country. He spoke to the leaders of the different ethnic communities. And as a result of his efforts, and with members of the Governing Council participating as one of the groups in Iraq with an interest in the outcome, we have come up with, and he announced this morning, I think, a very strong slate for the interim government. We are pleased with the selections. We have examined all of the cabinet minister nominees, and I think the Iraqi people are going to be well served by this government.

Obviously, there were a number of candidates for the various positions. The United States worked with Mr. Brahimi in examining these candidates, and when the list got narrow, it was really a judgment that had to be made between Iraqi leaders, Mr. Brahimi, and in consultation, of course, with the United States. But it is not a question of anyone's candidate losing. We are pleased that a number of qualified candidates were available for the top positions. And I'm very pleased with the outcome. It's exactly what we wanted Mr. Brahimi to do, and he has performed his task very, very well.

We will now move forward on our work with the resolution. I expect that there will be discussions in New York today on the revised resolution, and representatives from the new interim government are heading to New York to participate in those discussions toward the end of the week. And we'll also be in discussions with members of the new Iraqi interim government on the basis upon which coalition forces will be in Iraq, and the relationship between the Iraqi interim government and the coalition military forces.

And so I think it's been a good day for the Iraqi people. There are still those terrorists who are determined to try to keep the Iraqi people from achieving democracy and freedom, but we are determined that they will be defeated. And so the President's five-point plan that he announced at Carlisle last week is now unfolding, and the first step is there with the appointment of an Iraqi interim government.

QUESTION: Georgia Television. Mr. Powell, did you discuss the question about Abkhazia, and how are you going to help Georgia to resolve this problem? Thank you, sir.

SECRETARY POWELL: Yes, we discussed Ajara, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and we will stay in close consultations with the Georgian leaders and with our Russian colleagues as well with respect to the military bases. Our position is clear. We believe that the bases should be removed. They no longer serve a real military purpose. But I am confident that in the months ahead, with continued goodwill on the part of all parties, we'll find a way to move forward. But, yes, we did discuss all of those.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, now that an interim Iraqi government has been named, can you talk a little bit about how life is actually going to change for the average Iraqi and also how the U.S. role is going to change moving to Ambassador Negroponte?

SECRETARY POWELL: As you know, by the 30th of June, this new government, the interim Iraqi government, will take office, empowered by a UN resolution and with the support of the international community, and they will have full sovereignty. The interim government is replacing the Coalition Provisional Authority, and Ambassador Bremer will return home, having performed his job in a very, very outstanding and in a noble way.

Ambassador Negroponte is there to represent U.S. interests in Iraq as the chief of mission of our embassy, just as there are many other embassies in Baghdad. He will have available to him the supplemental funds that Congress appropriated to assist in the reconstruction of Iraq, and there will also, of course, be a large military presence, 130-odd-thousand U.S. troops that will remain under U.S. military command and report back, of course, to the Pentagon, as is the case with such forces present in another country.

I think the Iraqi people will now see that their destiny is in the hands of their own leaders. The occupation, as they know it, is coming to an end in that their political leaders are in charge. We are there to help their political leaders restore control. We are there to help build up Iraqi security forces so that, increasingly, Iraqi security forces can take on the challenge of providing security for the people of Iraq and defeating the terrorists and the former regime fighters who are still trying to take the country backwards. And that's not going to happen. It's not going to be allowed to happen.

So we are there in partnership with the new interim Iraqi government. We are there to help them with reconstruction. We are there to help them garner more international support for their efforts. As the President said, we are there to help them get ready for full elections at the end of the year for a national assembly, and then a transitional government from that national assembly, the writing of a constitution, and full elections for a totally representative government by the end of 2005 for installation in January of 2006.

The government that was announced today is a caretaker government to take the country through the next six to seven months until elections can be held, and this is a government that is fully deserving of our support, the support of the international community. And I am confident they will have that support from the international community, and they certainly have it from us.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, with this weekend's attacks in Saudi Arabia, do you --

QUESTION: That was what I was going to ask about, the attacks in Saudi Arabia.

QUESTION: Do you want -- well, just the question is, with the attacks in Saudi Arabia over the weekend, do you think Saudi Arabia is capable of continuing to supply, you know, continuing to offer uninterrupted oil supplies to the world?

SECRETARY POWELL: I have no reason to doubt their ability to do that. They are doing it now and they are making a commitment to do more. And there will be OPEC meetings later this week to see what the international oil community is prepared to do, but I have confidence in the ability of the Saudi Arabians to continue to provide a secure flow of oil products from Saudi Arabia.

QUESTION: If I could just follow up on that, I'm less concerned about the oil flow, although others probably are, but what about what it means about Saudi Arabia's capacity to deal with the terrorism and the apparently increasing al-Qaida threat to foreigners resident in that country?

SECRETARY POWELL: It just makes it clear that al-Qaida remains a threat throughout the world, in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. It shows, as the President has said all along, that this is a threat that affects all nations, and not just the United States. And I am confident that the Saudis, as all other nations should, will be redoubling their efforts with respect to law enforcement, with respect to intelligence exchange, with respect to drying up terrorist financing, with respect to border controls, knowing who is in your country and for what purpose.

And I think the Saudis will redouble their efforts. They've been doing a great deal in recent months, and I would expect them to do more. They know that this kind of terrorist activity cannot be in any way found to be something that is tolerable, and I expect them to use all the resources at their disposal to go after them, just as every other civilized nation should.

One more and then -- is that it? Okay, thanks, guys.