For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
July 10, 2003
President Discusses AIDS Initiative, Iraq in Botswana
Remarks by President Bush and President Mogae of Botswana in a Photo Opportunity
Gaberone International Convention Centre
Gaberone, Botswana
11:43 A.M. (Local)
PRESIDENT MOGAE: Ladies and gentlemen of the press, honorable
ministers, you are probably wondering what we have been talking between
the President and I. And I was just thanking him for, first of all,
visiting us, but, above all, for the generous assistance we have been
receiving.
As you know, we are the country in southern Africa that is most
seriously affected by HIV/AIDS, and we are receiving generous
assistance from the United States government, who are helping us with
the testing and counseling centers and in which we are spending about
$8 million U.S. a year, which is about 40 million pula in our own
currency.
They have also responded to a request for human resources
assistance and they have restored the Peace Corps program. We are
collaborating with our own private sector, the foundations in the
United States -- the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Merck
Corporation Foundation for providing us with anti-retrovirals, and also
with assistance for mounting of our prevention campaign.
That program is going very well. I mention that, it is the most
important -- but also we are very grateful for AGOA, on behalf of
ourselves, on behalf of Africa as a whole, because most African
countries have benefitted by AGOA. I was telling the President that in
my view, AGOA is perhaps the most significant thing that United States
has done for sub-Saharan Africa in recent decades.
As some of us some of you will know, initially Namibia and us,
and Botswana, were left out of AGOA I as a result of the level of our
-- (inaudible) -- and we have since been included under AGOA II. And
so the only issue is that the dispensation, that concession should be
maintained, therefore, as long as AGOA remains. Because, like the
President, we believe in trade -- of course, we believe in aid, too.
(Laughter.) So both aid and trade and cooperation.
So that's what we have been talking about -- of course, other
things. But, of course, there are a whole range of issues on which we
consulted reaching across the region -- performance of our economy, but
the region of the south -- of southern Africa and then sub-Saharan
Africa as a whole.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Mr. President, thanks. Listen, we're so honored
that you invited us here. We're thrilled to be here. You have been a
very strong leader. First, I want to commend you for your leadership.
I appreciate your commitment to democracy and freedom, to rule of law
and transparency. I want to congratulate you for serving your country
so very well.
We did talk a lot of issues. We talked about the regional issues;
we talked about the war on terror. We've got a great friend in the war
on terror. We both understand that we must work together to share
intelligence, to cut off money, to forever deny terrorists a chance to
plot and plan and hurt those of us who love freedom.
I talked -- spent some time on the HIV/AIDS issue. Botswana, as a
result of the President's leadership, has really been on the forefront
of dealing with this serious problem by, first and foremost, admitting
that there is a problem, and then by working to put a strategy in place
to prevent and treat and to provide help for those who suffer.
And, Mr. President, the United States of America stands squarely
with you --
PRESIDENT MOGAE: Thank you.
PRESIDENT BUSH: -- with you and your Health Minister and your
administration to help put together a strategy that will save lives.
We talked about the shortage of food in parts of Africa. We had a
wide-ranging discussion. And President Mogae is a strong, visionary
leader who I'm proud to call friend.
So, thank you, Mr. President, for your hospitality.
We'll be glad to answer a couple of questions. If you'd like to
call on somebody from your press corps first.
PRESIDENT MOGAE: Does anyone want to ask --
PRESIDENT BUSH: That's not the way we do it in -- (laughter.)
Q To the U.S. President, yesterday when you met President Mbeki
of South Africa, the MDC leader in Zimbabwe was not very excited about
that. He feels you were misled. What are your views on that? Did you
have any plans for Zimbabwe and did you shelve them because of what you
heard yesterday, or are you still going to go ahead with them?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, thank you very much. I made it very clear,
publicly, the position of this administration, and that is that we
expect there to be democracy in Zimbabwe, in order for the people of
that country to advance. We did speak about Zimbabwe here. I
explained why the Secretary of State and myself have been very
outspoken on the subject. And we had a frank discussion with President
Mbeki on Zimbabwe, as well.
It is -- it's a shame that that economy has gotten so weak and
soft. It's a shame for Botswana, it's a shame for southern Africa, and
that the weakness in the economy is directly attributable to bad
governance. And therefore, we will continue to speak out for democracy
in Zimbabwe.
Ryan of Bloomberg. There he is. Hi, Ryan. How are you?
Q Mr. President, in Evian, you and the Europeans talked about
maybe reducing agricultural subsidies. Is this something that has come
up in your meeting today? And what assurances can you give to your
African counterparts that this is something that the U.S. is serious
about?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Yes, that's a very good question. Absolutely, the
subject of agricultural subsidies came up here today, it came up
yesterday. I suspect and it came up in Senegal. It will come up in
every country we come to, because African leaders are worried that
subsidies, agricultural subsidies are undermining their capacity to
become self-sufficient in food. That's part of the problem.
The other part of the problem is the lack of technological
development in agriculture. And we talked about the need for
genetically-modified crops throughout the continent of Africa.
I told them the reality of the situation, that we have proposed a
very strong reduction in agricultural subsidies. However, in order to
make that come to be, there needs to be reciprocation from Europe and
Japan in order to make the policy effective. We're committed to a
world that trades in freedom and we will work toward that through the
Doha Round of the World Trade Organization.
Q To President Festus Mogae --
PRESIDENT MOGAE: Yes, yes. Okay.
PRESIDENT BUSH: This is a bad precedent where the same person gets
to ask two questions. (Laughter.)
Q There was a sentiment that Your Honor was going to ask the
U.S. President if AGOA, the lifespan of AGOA could be extended. Was
that done today?
PRESIDENT MOGAE: You bet. (Laughter.)
PRESIDENT BUSH: In plain English.
PRESIDENT MOGAE: Yes.
Q And for how long?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, I've asked Congress to extend AGOA to '08,
2008. And the President, of course, said, well, fine, if that
extension takes place, make sure we're a part of it. And he made his
case very explicitly. Everybody in the delegation heard him clearly.
And my response was, we will work closely with you to see if that can't
happen.
Tamara, Newsweek.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. I'm going to try for two
questions, as well.
PRESIDENT BUSH: No, no, please don't do that. It may be the last
question you get if you try. (Laughter.) Go ahead.
Q On this trip you've highlighted a lot of different success
stories in Africa, the countries that have been successful in fighting
AIDS or on trade. What do you hope Americans who are watching you take
from your trip here? And then, secondly, on Iraq, given the sort of
day-to-day challenges facing American soldiers there, how important, or
is it increasingly important to find Saddam Hussein and any updates on
a hunt for him to really convince people he might be gone for good?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, let me start with Iraq. Having talked to
Jerry Bremer, the man in charge of the civilian operations there, he
believes that the vast majority of Iraqi citizens are thrilled that
Saddam Hussein is no longer in power. Secondly, there's no question
we've got a security issue in Iraq, and we're just going to have to
deal with person by person. We're going to have to remain tough.
Now, part of the issue that we've got to make clear is that any
terrorist acts on infrastructure by former Baathists, for example,
really are attacks on the Iraqi people, and therefore, the more
involved the Iraqi citizens become in securing their own
infrastructure, and the more involved Iraqi citizens are in the
transitional government, the more likely it is the average citizen will
understand that once again the apologists for Saddam Hussein are
bringing misery on their country.
The world will see eventually as freedom spreads that -- what
Saddam Hussein did to the mentality of the Iraqi people. I mean, we've
discovered torture chambers where people, citizens were tortured just
based upon their beliefs. We've discovered mass graves -- graves for
not only men and women, but graves for children. We discovered a
prison for children -- all aimed at -- for Saddam Hussein to intimidate
the people of Iraq. And slowly, but surely, the people of Iraq are
learning the responsibility that comes with being a free society.
We haven't been there long. I mean, relatively speaking. We've
been there for 90 to 100 days -- I don't have the exact number. But I
will tell you, it's going to take more than 90 to 100 days for people
to recognize the great joys of freedom and the responsibilities that
come with freedom. We're making steady progress. A free Iraq will
mean a peaceful world. And it's very important for us to stay the
course, and we will stay the course.
The first question was about what I want Americans to know. The
first thing I wanted the leadership in Africa to know is the American
people care deeply about the pandemic that sweeps across this
continent, the pandemic of HIV/AIDS; that we're not only a powerful
nation, we're also a compassionate nation.
You know, I laid out a very strong initiative on helping countries
in the continent of Africa deal with AIDS. It's a -- to me, it's an
expression of the great, good heart of the American people. It doesn't
matter what political party or what the ideology of the American
citizen, the average citizen cares deeply about the fact that people
are dying in record numbers because of HIV/AIDS. We cry for the
orphan. We care for the mom who is alone. We are concerned about the
plight, and therefore, will respond as generously as we can.
That's really the story that I want the people of Africa to hear.
And I want the people of America to know that I'm willing to take that
story to this continent and talk about the goodness of our country.
And I believe we'll be successful when it's all said and done of making
our intentions well-known.
Listen, thank you all.
END 11:55 A.M. (Local)
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