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Actualizada: 1/III/01
President Pastrana Meets with President Bush
Background Briefing by Senior Administration Officials
Senior Administration Official: First of all, let me make a few points about me. I've been asked to give you a readout on the bilateral meeting between the Presidents. They had an excellent meeting, an excellent discussion. President Pastrana updated President Bush on progress on Plan Colombia, particularly the peace process, drug eradication efforts . The President expressed his strong support for President Pastrana's efforts to achieve peace, as well as President Pastrana's strong determination to thwart the drug trade. They discussed human rights and the need to continue to improve the situation in Colombia. They talked about trade. President Bush pledged his support for renewal of the Andean Trade Preference Act that came into law in 1991. President Bush said he was willing to work with the Congress to see if we can enhance it to include other products. And I would also note that President Pastrana is committed to turning around his economy and we believe (and President Bush said he believed) that President Pastrana is on the right course on the economic side.
S. A. Official: Not any specific numbers, no. What was discussed was Plan Colombia. President Pastrana gave a good brief on what the Colombians have achieved, and it is indeed impressive. And he talked about continuing Colombian efforts. Of course, let me say this, Plan Colombia is something that the Colombians have come up with. It represents more than $7 billion, about $7.5 billion. Half of that is projected to come from Colombian sources. Half of that is, roughly half of that is, projected to come from non-Colombian sources, that is, international financial institutions and bilateral support. The United States' segment of Plan Colombia is $1.3 billion, and we have already committed ourselves and have begun the expenditure of our contribution under that larger $7.5 billion Plan Colombia.
S. A. Official: What they talked about was the overall performance of Colombia and what the Colombians project to do. President Pastrana put a lot of emphasis on the economic side; he put a lot of emphasis on trade and attracting investment. And it was very clear the direction in which the Colombians are going. In other words, building on Plan Colombia and moving ahead and putting a lot of emphasis on trade and investment.
S. A. Official: I think what you're referring to is they're talking about the Summit of the Americas in Quebec in the third eek of April, and who the President is going to be meeting with in Quebec. Nothing has been nailed down as far as that's concerned. There's a lot of work still to be done on with whom the President is going to be meeting. But that concept was certainly discussed.
S. A. Official: I think the President addressed that. Q: What was the reason? S. A. Official: It's right there. The only thing I would add to that is...no, I really don't want to add very much to it. I think President Bush says it all. He said that this is something the Colombians are working on. Oh, yes, it certainly is something the Colombians are working on. President Pastrana addressed the subject outside in terms of this is an ongoing process, and there is nothing really nailed down there. So I don't think there is anything to nail it to. There's one other consideration that we must keep in mind. The FARC is responsible for the murder of three American missionaries in Colombia in 1999. Those American missionaries were shot in the face by the FARC, their bodies were dumped over on the Venezuelan side of the border. That was a particularly horrendous crime. And we're waiting to see what the FARC does about that.
S. A. Official: Again, I will refer you to the text. Q: The President didn't address that question. S. A. Official: I refer you to the text, and you can go back to the words of the President. S. A. Official: It was raised in the photo op. He's asking whether it was raised in the meeting. S. A. Official: Not in the terms in which it was addressed by the question. Q: Can you? S. A. Official: Yes, I can. President Pastrana mentioned what his peace plan was all about and his involvement; he explained that.
S. A. Official: President Pastrana explained what his objective was and how he intended to achieve it. And President Bush addressed that specific question on the record.
S. A. Official: The President was quite specific. They did discuss the subject of trade and President Bush said to President Pastrana that the Administration will support Andean trade preferences and work with the Congress to see if it can be enhanced to include other products.
S. A. Official: I'm not getting into any hypothetical situation. I'm just saying...I refer you to what the President said in response to a question specifically on the subject and I'll stick to that.
S. A. Official: No, that subject did not come up specifically.
S. A. Official: He said he supports President Pastrana's efforts to achieve peace in Colombia.
S. A. Official: They discussed human rights. They discussed the need to continue to improve the human rights situation in Colombia. And they discussed the human rights situation with regard to the paramilitary.
S. A. Official: They discussed...President Pastrana explained what Colombia is doing.
S. A. Official: No, that subject did not come up.
S. A. Official: Well, they discussed...as I said, President Pastrana updated President Bush on the progress of Plan Colombia across the board, and particularly both the peace process and the drug eradication effort. It was a very complete briefing.
S. A. Official: They did indeed discuss human rights and they did indeed discuss the need to continue to improve the situation in Colombia.
S. A. Official: The subject did not come up. Q: In the discussion about the Andean trade, was there any discussion about the (President Pastrana wanted the timetable to be moved up) was there any discussion about when that timing would be and whether, in the meantime, President Bush would support...? S. A. Official: They discussed the whole subject, the entire subject of free trade, the FTA, and they discussed the Quebec summit, and they discussed ways to approach this subject at the Summit.
S. A. Official: It was as I just said. There was a lot of discussion of all the points that I mentioned. It wasn't a negotiating session or anything like that.
S. A. Official: President Pastrana filled President Bush in on progress on Plan Colombia, as I indicated, and the peace process and drug eradication efforts, and the other subjects that I discussed with you.
S. A. Official: There was talk...President Bush said he was willing to work with the Congress to see if we can enhance the Andean Trade Preference Act to include other products.
Q: Was there any discussion about inviting other countries as part of the...? S. A. Official: The regional approach, yes, was touched upon, and how to go about that. Because the problem goes beyond Colombia. It's an Andean regional problem.
S. A. Official: Well, what was discussed was President Fox's participation with Colombia and Venezuela in the G-3 arrangement that has existed for several years now, and the fact that President Fox is taking an active interest in the regional issues of the hemisphere.
S. A. Official: There was talk of support for Colombia across the board.
S. A. Official: President Bush addressed U.S. demand, yes, he did. He did that in the private meeting, as well. And he talked about the need for the United States to do more in terms of dealing with the demand; the drug demand situation in our country.
S. A. Official: Colombia is an oil producer, and President Pastrana talked about his Government's plans to attract more investment in the energy sector.
S. A. Official: Indeed. And there are U.S. oil companies that are there already.
S. A. Official: By offering...part of President Pastrana's message today was that Colombia is interested in more trade and in more investment, and specifically he talked about more investment in the energy sector.
S. A. Official: There was a new law, and he mentioned this, that passed last year that has resulted in $35 million in exploration contracts. And I think with the Vice President, he mentioned a new natural gas law that's pending before Congress.
S. A. Official: It was a scheduling conflict on the Vice President's part.
S. A. Official: It was President Bush and President Pastrana. President Pastrana was accompanied by his Foreign Minister. He was accompanied by his Ambassador to the United States and the Ambassador's Deputy and one of the private secretaries. President Bush was accompanied by Andy Card, the Chief of Staff; Condoleezza Rice, Alan Larson, the Acting Secretary of State, Ambassador Anne Patterson, and the unnamed senior administration official.
S. A. Official: It was scheduled for 45 minutes. S. A. Official: The entire briefing time on the meeting has not exceeded the entire meeting time. So I think we've now spent more time analyzing the meeting than they actually spent meeting. Q: Did they have coffee? S. A. Official: They had coffee, Colombian coffee.
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