For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
November 9, 2001
President Meets with Prime Minister of India
Remarks by the President and Prime Minister Vajpayee of India in Press Availability
Cross Hall
White House
Listen to the President's Remarks
11:35 A.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Prime Minister, welcome to the United
States. It's my honor to welcome the Prime Minister of India to the
White House for a series of discussions. My administration
is committed to developing a fundamentally different relationship with
India, one based upon trust, one based upon mutual
values. After all, the Prime Minister leads a nation that is
the largest democratic nation in the world.
I look forward to working to foster ties that will help both our
economies. Trade with India is going to be an important part
of our growth in the future. India has got a fantastic
ability to grow, because her greatest export is intelligence and brain
power, as our country has learned over the last decades.
We lifted sanctions on India, so that our relationship can
prosper. We will fight terrorism together. Our initial
discussions focused on the battle against terror, and the Prime
Minister understands that we have no option but to win. And
he understands that there is a commitment -- there needs to be a
commitment by all of us to do more than just talk. It's to
achieve certain objectives -- to cut off the finances, to put
diplomatic pressure on the terrorists, in some cases, to help
militarily. But, in any case, stand firm in the face of
terror.
We also talked about the need to make sure humanitarian aid reaches
those who hurt in Afghanistan. And we discussed a
post-Taliban Afghanistan that enables the country to survive and move
forward, and one that represents all the interests of the people of
Afghanistan.
Over lunch, I look forward to talking about a new joint
cyberterrorism initiative and a civilian space cooperation program, as
well as discussing our mutual concerns about energy and the ability to
conserve it, as well as to have plentiful supplies as we go into the
future.
So, Mr. Prime Minister, I am extremely optimistic about our
relationship. It's an important relationship for our
country. And I welcome you to the United
States. Thank you for coming.
PRIME MINISTER VAJPAYEE: Thank you, Mr. President, for
your kinds words. It is a pleasure to be here to continue
the practice of regular dialogue that India and the USA have
established in recent years.
I was happy to be able to personally reiterate our sympathy,
solidarity and support for the American people in the aftermath of
terrible events of September 11th.
We admire the decisive leadership of President Bush in the
international coalition against terrorism. We also applaud
the resilience and resolve of the American people in this hour of
trial. This terrible tragedy has created the opportunity to
fashion a determined global response to terrorism in all its forms and
manifestations, wherever it exists and under whatever
name. I assured President Bush of India's complete support
in this.
At the same time, as material leaders, pluralist democracies, we
should clearly spread the message that the war against terrorism is not
against any religion, but against terrorists whose propaganda misuses
religion.
President Bush and I had a very good conversation, which we will
continue over lunch. In the last few months, there has been
an intensive interaction between our two countries on a wide range of
bilateral subjects. We have moved forward on the dialogue
architecture and on defense cooperation. A resumption of the
bilateral defense policy group should promote
technical cooperation in defense and security.
The Joint Working Group on Counterterrorism has made good progress,
and we have agreed to launch a joint cyberterrorism
initiative. Economic and commercial relations are
expanding. We have agreed to broaden the bilateral economic
dialogue to include new areas of cooperation. Both of us
agree that the synergies and complementarities between our two
countries should be more fully exploited.
We discussed the urgent need for a political order in Afghanistan
which would be broad-based, representative, and friendly with all
countries in its neighborhood. Equally important is
sustained international assistance for rehabilitation and
reconstruction work in that country. We agreed that India
and the USA, in partnership with other countries, would work towards
these goals.
Today, the President and I continued face to face the dialogue
which we have been conducting over the last ten months on the phone and
through letters. It has been an extremely rewarding
experience. To sustain the momentum of the dialogue, I have
reiterated to President Bush my invitation to visit India. I
look forward to receiving him in New Delhi.
Thank you.
Q Mr. President --
Q Mr. President --
PRESIDENT BUSH: Hold on for a minute,
please. The Prime Minister has agreed to take a couple of
questions, and so have I. I think I will start, Mr. Prime
Minister, with Fournier, Associated Press man.
Q Thank you, sir. Before meeting
with you today, the Prime Minister told The Washington Post that the
U.S. was not prepared for the war in Afghanistan, which he said was
"less than satisfactory" and "slackening." The Saudi Foreign
Minister, who you are meeting with later today, told The New York Times
that you can't be an honest broker in the Middle East peace process
until you meet with Arafat. Is it helpful that your
coalition members are airing their gripes in public? And
what will you say to them about these charges face-to-face?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, the Prime Minister and I had a
very good discussion about the progress we're making on this particular
part of the war against terror. He understands what I
understand, that we're just only beginning to fight terrorism in
Afghanistan.
I assured him exactly what I've been assuring the American people,
that I've got the patience necessary to achieve our objective in the
Afghan theater, and the objective is to bring the al Qaeda to justice,
and to make sure that Afghanistan has got a stable form of government
after we leave. I also told the Prime Minister that we're achieving
our military objectives.
This is a different kind of war. It's a war that matches
high-technology weapons with people on horseback. It's a war
in which the enemy thinks they can hide in caves and we'll forget about
them. It is a war that's going to take a deliberate,
systematic effort to achieve our objectives. And our nation
has not only got the patience to achieve that objective, we've got the
determination to achieve the objective. And we will achieve
it.
I appreciate the candid discussions we have with our coalition
partners. I think it's important that we have these
discussions. And the Prime Minister and I had such a
discussion, and I was glad to be able to make the case as to why we're
going to be successful.
Having said all the newspaper stories and all that business, I will
tell you, our coalition has never been stronger --
Q Mr. President --
THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me for a minute,
please. The coalition has never been
stronger. I'll make the case tomorrow at the United Nations
that the time of sympathy is over. We appreciate the
condolences. Now is the time for action. Now is
the time for coalition members to respond in their own
way. And the Prime Minister of India understands that, and
he is responding. And the Saudi Arabian government
understands that, and they are responding as well.
Mr. Prime Minister.
Q This is a question for President
Bush. Sir, why are there two laws in this world, one for
America and one for the rest of us?
THE PRESIDENT: Why is there -- excuse me, two?
Q Two laws in this world -- one for America
and one for the rest of us? When terrorism hits America, you
go halfway across the world and make war in Afghanistan. But
when we suffer terrorism, you ask us to be restrained. Is an
Indian right less precious than an American right?
THE PRESIDENT: I think there is one universal law, and
that's terrorism is evil, and all of us must work to reject
evil. Murder is evil, and we must reject
murder. When the terrorist attacks that took place on
October the 1st, I strongly condemned them, and I will continue to
condemn them.
And that's -- excuse me. Our coalition is strong,
because leaders such as the Prime Minister fully understand that we
must reject terrorism in all its forms, and murder in all its causes,
in order for the world to be peaceful.
Holland.
Q Can we get a reaction from the Indian
Prime Minister to that?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Excuse me, please, sir.
Q Sir, with the Aviation Security bill still
languishing on the Hill, why won't you agree to make the baggage
handlers federal employees? What's the holdup here?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Steve, I think that I've asked for the
Senate and the House to come up with a plan that will work -- that will
not only make sure that as we transition to a new system that there is
security for the American people, that in the long run there is
security for the American people. And I believe progress is
being made.
Like yourself, or like your question implies, it would be nice to
have had the bill done yesterday. But sometimes democracy
doesn't work quite that fast. But the negotiators are
working hard to come up with a bill that I can sign, and I believe they
will come up with a bill that I can sign.
The House had a version, the Senate had a version, and now they're
reconciling their differences. I don't believe they're that
far apart, nor did I believe they were that far apart when the process
began. And I think that, from what I'm told, progress is
being made. And for that, I'm grateful.
Mr. Prime Minister.
Q Mr. Prime Minister, was India's concerns
of cross-border terrorism specifically reflected in your endorsement of
the American President? And have you achieved some headway
in convincing him that countries that are part of the problem cannot be
part of the solution today?
PRIME MINISTER VAJPAYEE: This question of cross-border
terrorism has been getting our attention in both the
countries. Recently, a bomb attack was made on the
Legislative Assembly of the Jammu in Kashmir. Even Pakistan
realized that it was a case of terrorism.
We have to fight terrorism in all its forms. We have to
win this battle against terrorism. There is no other
option.
PRESIDENT BUSH: That's the two-question
limit. Thank you all for coming.
Q Mr. President --
PRESIDENT BUSH: Our food is getting cold. The
Prime Minister is hungry, and so am I.
Mr. Prime Minister, thank you.
PRIME MINISTER VAJPAYEE: And the dividing line between
hunger and --
Q When are you going to India?
PRESIDENT BUSH: As soon as possible, I am going to
India.
END
11:50 A.M. EST
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