PRESIDENT BUSH: It's my honor to welcome President
Mubarak to the White House again. The United States has got
a close and meaningful relationship with Egypt. The
relationship is a cornerstone for our policy in the Middle
East. I value my friendship with President
Mubarak. I always appreciate our candid
conversations. Our nations are united by ties of friendship
and a shared commitment to regional stability, economic prosperity and
peace.
Today, the strategic partnership between our countries is more
important than ever, as we confront the threat of global
terror. And I want to thank the President for his steadfast
support in our war against terror. Egypt has been a good
friend, and I'm grateful.
We also meet at a moment when the people of both our countries are
gravely concerned about escalating violence in the Middle
East. Each day brings fresh reports of more lives lost and
more Palestinian and Israeli families shattered by those
losses. Both our countries view this situation with great
alarm. We both feel deep sympathy for the people in the
region who are trying to live their lives in peace. And
we're both determined to redouble our efforts to work for peace.
We talked extensively today about our efforts. President
Mubarak has a long history of advancing peace and stability in the
Middle East. My country has set forth a goal, which I stated
last November at the United Nations: We're committed to two
states, Israel and Palestine living peacefully together within secure
and recognized borders, as called for by the Security Council
resolutions of the United Nations.
The United States also believes that this goal is only possible if
there is a maximum effort to end violence throughout the region,
starting with the Palestinian efforts to stop attacks against
Israelis.
We want to work with the parties to implement the Tenet security
plan, and then the Mitchell recommendations. We stand ready
to return General Zinni to the region when appropriate. The
Israeli-Palestinian situation will be an important topic of Vice
President Cheney's upcoming visit to the region. And we're
willing to work with all our friends in the region to see how we can
build on the vision for peace recently advanced by Crown Prince
Abdullah.
President Mubarak and I also spoke about the full range of
interests that our nations share. We welcomed the decision
yesterday by Secretary Powell and the Foreign Minister of Egypt to
initiate a U.S.-Egyptian strategic dialogue to provide regular
coordination on political, economic and military issues.
We also discussed how important it is to expand economic
opportunities in the Middle East, and help more young people acquire
the education and technical expertise they need to embrace
opportunities as they arise. I've asked Secretary Powell to
launch a new initiative, aimed at increasing both economic and
educational opportunities throughout the region.
Egypt was the first Arab state to stretch out its hand for peace in
the Middle East, and it has worked hard to preserve its peace with
Israel, even during difficult times. I know that Egypt will
continue to be a vital partner, as we seek to help the parties move
forward in the months to come toward a broader Middle Eastern peace.
I want to thank President Mubarak for coming back to
Washington. And now it's my honor to welcome him to the
podium.
Mr. President.
PRESIDENT MUBARAK: Thank you. Thank you,
sir.
Good evening. Before commenting on my discussions with
President Bush, I want to reiterate my personal condolences and those
of the Egyptian people to you, Mr. President, and to the American
people, and all those who suffered in the tragic events of September
11th. Let me seize this occasion to reaffirm that Egypt has
always been on the forefront of fighting terrorists and will continue
to play an instrumental role in this regard.
Once again, I met with my friend, President Bush, and exchanged
views with him on several issues of common concern. As
usual, our discussions were very friendly. As President Bush
just said, we have built a solid partnership that is serving our
bilateral interests and the cause of peace and stability in the Middle
East.
The partnership has matured over the years and endured the test of
time. A general sense of continued cooperation and
friendship has evolved. As you know, Egypt took many pioneering steps
toward peace in the Middle East. Today we remain committed
to that goal. Our partnership has an indispensable role to
play in helping the parties directly involved in the conflict find a
just and comprehensive solution.
In this vein, the U.S. has contributed greatly to these goals for
the past 25 years. I welcome that the administration will
spare no effort in order to help achieve a comprehensive
peace. In this context, we look forward to welcoming Vice
President Cheney to the area soon, and appreciate that the peace
process will be one of the issues to be given the merit it deserves.
We must bring about an end to the cycle of violence, and other
hostile actions, and ensure the early resumption of peace
negotiations. Nothing can be achieved through violence or
resolved through force.
As the Palestinians are being asked to exert more effort to bring
down the level of violence, the Israeli government should understand
that the use of military power and unilateral measures against the
Palestinian population, the closure of roads, the siege of towns and
villages, the demolition of houses, the collective punishment that make
progress more difficult, should stop.
The only way out is to put a decisive end to all this suffering, to
resume full-fledged peace negotiations immediately, including the
implementation of the Tenet plan and the Mitchell
recommendations. Peace will only be achieved through ending
the Israeli occupation of all territories occupied since June 1967,
implementing the relevant U.N. resolutions, establishing a viable
Palestinian state, and guaranteeing the security of all parts in
peaceful coexistence.
For decades, Egypt has been at the forefront of peacemaking and
development in our region. Our partnership with the U.S. has
played a crucial role in this process. Our comprehensive
reform program is now entering a new phase, one that seeks to complete
Egypt's integration into the world economy.
At the core of this vision is our quest to deepen our trade ties
with all partners, especially the United States. In this
context, we have discussed our bilateral relations with a view to
intensifying our cooperation in various fields. We agreed to
take concrete steps in that direction.
Thank you.
Q Mr. President, what --
PRESIDENT BUSH: Hold up a second. Please,
please, please. I'm going to call on two U.S. reporters; the
President will call on two Egyptian reporters. We'll be glad
to answer four questions.
I will start by asking AP writer Barry Schweid.
Q Thank you. Mr. President, you
spoke today, as Secretary Powell has, favorably of the Saudi
initiative. Israelis are virtually lining up
-- Israeli officials -- wanting to go
to Saudi Arabia to talk about this proposal. But the Saudis
apparently are discouraging that. Do you think there should
be some preliminary discussions, preliminary searching out of what the
proposal means? And does it carry any solid hope, as far as
you're concerned, of ending this morass?
PRESIDENT BUSH: First of all, I think the Crown Prince's
suggestion was a very positive development. And I appreciate
those in Israel who are trying to find out exactly what it means.
There has got to be a vision for peace in order for us to head
toward peace. And the President of Egypt has
talked -- made an offer for dialogue that will
help lead to a peace, hopefully. Crown Prince Abdullah has,
as well. And our government supports efforts to
create -- lay out a vision for a more peaceful
tomorrow.
And so I appreciate the efforts of both leaders, and I applaud
those efforts of those willing to explore opportunity. But I
want to remind everybody that it's going to be difficult to achieve any
kind of peace, so long as there is a cycle of violence. And
one of the things that we talked about is how best we can come together
to break the cycle of violence.
There are people in the Middle East that do not want
peace. There are people who want to use death to prevent
there to be peace discussions. They want to murder innocent
lives. I cannot tell you how it breaks my heart to see the
weeping moms, and those who have lost life, because somebody is
preventing peace from -- somebody wants to
prevent a peace process from beginning.
And so, as the President mentioned, the step is to reduce the cycle
of violence and to get into the Tenet security plan as quickly as
possible. But I applaud the efforts of these leaders, for trying to
move the process forward.
Q I would like the question of both
President Mubarak and President Bush. President
Bush --
PRESIDENT BUSH: It's the old two question
trick. (Laughter.)
Q President Bush, now President Mubarak has
offered a window of hope, the offer of President Mubarak to host both
Prime Minister Sharon and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in Sharm
el-Sheikh or in Egypt. So what is your response to that
offer? Particularly, what can the U.S. do in order to
translate that offer that is likely to break the cycle of violence into
a reality?
And, President Mubarak, whether you were satisfied from what you
heard from President Bush in your discussions regarding your
offer? Thank you.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, thank you for that
question. Let me say, as I mentioned, that I appreciate any
efforts, any ideas that will lay out a vision for a peaceful
resolution. And the President's offer was a meaningful
offer, and we applaud his efforts.
As I mentioned in my opening remarks, Egypt has had
a -- has led the way toward leading the region
toward peace. And his offer was indicative of that type of
leadership. Crown Prince Abdullah has laid out an
interesting idea. I, myself, at the U.N., talked about a
solution.
The key, however, for us to get to the solution is to bust this
cycle of violence. And that is where my administration, and
I know the President, as well, is spending a lot of time and efforts to
convince the parties that violence will only lead to heartbreak and
will enhance the chances for those who hate the idea of peace to
prevail. And those of us who love peace must continue to, as
I said, redouble our efforts, which we will.
Mr. President.
PRESIDENT MUBARAK: I'm satisfied with my discussion with
President Bush about the peace process. And we hope we could
continue, and the other partners should comply with what we are
mentioning.
Something concerning the Crown Prince Abdullah
initiative -- I would like to say this is the
first time in the history of the Saudis that they could say, we are
ready to normalize relations with Israel in case a peace
prevails -- the first time in
history. We should underline this. Thank you.
Q Mr. President, many U.S. allies are
threatening retaliation over your steel decision. Are you
prepared for a trade war? And why shouldn't this be seen as
a tax increase?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Steve, we're a free trading nation, and
in order to remain a free trading nation, we must enforce
law. And that's exactly what I did. I decided
that imports were severely affecting our industry, an important
industry, in a negative impact and, therefore, provide temporary relief
so that the industry could restructure itself. That's
exactly what the World Trade Organization allows for. The
International Trade Commission made this recommendation.
As you know, I honored our NAFTA agreements by exempting Canada and
Mexico. I also -- we will honor our
agreements with developing nations. This is a remedy allowed under the
WTO. It also is a part of our law, and I intend to enforce
our laws.
Q My question is addressed for Mr. President
Bush and Mr. President Mubarak. As we know, this is your
first meeting after 11 September attacks. And Egypt's
experience in combating terrorism is worldwide
recognized. Did you find a common stand in your talks today
to combat this international phenomenon?
PRESIDENT BUSH: We did. The President
reminded me of the fact that he has been fighting terror long before I
became the President. He's an old hand at fighting
terror. And I assured him that we were strong allies in this
effort.
There are some in the world who don't like President Mubarak
because of what he stands for, a more open society. He's
been a great leader of Egypt, and there are extremists who don't like
him. And to the extent that we can help round up those
extremists that would do harm to the President or his government or the
people of Egypt, we will do so.
It doesn't matter to me where a terrorist tries to
hide. We will work with our friends and allies to hunt them
down. And I assured the President that my determination is
as strong today as it was on September the 11th.
This is an important moment in history, where nations must not
flinch in the face of murder and terror, and people who are willing to
take innocent lives, people who hate free societies.
And I am proud of our alliance and I appreciate his friendship and
I appreciate his steadfast resolve, as well, to rout out terror
wherever it exists.