President Bush Welcomes Brazilian President Lula to White House
Remarks by President Bush and President Lula of Brazil
The Oval Office
10:50 A.M. EDT
PRESIDENT BUSH: It's my honor to welcome the President of our
friend Brazil to the Oval Office. This is the third meeting I will
have held with the President. It shows how important our
relationship is. Brazil is an incredibly important part of a
peaceful and prosperous North and South America. I can say that
from the perspective of the United States, this relationship is a vital
and important and growing relationship.
On a personal perspective, I'm very impressed by the vision of
the President of Brazil. He's a man who clearly has deep concerns for
all the people of Brazil. He not only has a tremendous heart, but
he's got the abilities to work closely with his government and the
people of Brazil to encourage prosperity and to end hunger. And
today the people of both our countries will see a series of
initiatives on a variety of fronts, which indicate that this
relationship is a mature relationship and an important relationship.
And, Mr. President, I'm honored you're here with us today. Welcome.
Thank you, sir.
PRESIDENT LULA: I think that it's very important in our
third meeting that we should make it clear to the public opinion -- to
Brazilian and American public opinion -- about the relationship
between Brazil and the United States. It is a very strong
relationship that has been in existence for a long period. I always
believe that it is possible to even improve more these
relationships. Since the last time I was here, on December the
10th, of last year, still as president-elect, I went back to Brazil
with a certainty that Brazil and the United States do have the
possibility -- can have the most profitable relationship with the
United States. And this relationship between Brazil and the United
States should be on the basis of sincerity between people, on the
reliability that the leadership must have, and not just build up a
spectacle for the press and for the public.
I learned during my past life to -- I learned how to deal with
people on the basis of trust. And I believe that Brazil is and can
continue to be a good partner of the United States. We have many
things in common. And certainly, this meeting that we are
accomplishing today, this is a novelty: It's not a summit meeting
with two presidents, but it's a meeting that has Cabinet members of
both governments, so that from this meeting onwards, our ministers
can continue to work together independently of the two
presidents. And without any question, I believe that we can surprise
the world in terms of the relationship of Brazil and the United
States.
And I hope that soon we will have a meeting in Brazil so
that President Bush can personally see the dimensions and size of our
country, that Brazil is not just carnival and it's not only soccer.
We have other marvelous things in the country.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you, sir. Thank you all for coming.
Thank you.