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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 11, 2001

Remarks by the President and President Obasanjo of Nigeria in Photo Opportunity
The South Portico

1:01 P.M. EDT

     PRESIDENT  BUSH:  We just concluded a series of discussions and a good lunch  with the delegation from Nigeria.  The President and I also had some private time to visit about issues of mutual concern.  I am -- we discussed issues such as trade, the environment.

     Obviously,  we discussed health issues that relate to the continent of Africa.   We  are very supportive of the President's initiatives to provide peacekeepers in troubled countries on the African continent.

     As  many  Americans  may  know,  that we are in the process of helping provide  technical  assistance  to  Nigerian troops so that they are better able  to  keep  those  peace missions.  We talked about the program.  We've completed  two  phases of the training.  We're in the process of completing the third phase of an agreed-upon training program.

     The  short  of  it  is  that  Nigeria  is  a friend of America and the President  is  a friend of mine.  It has been my honor to welcome him here. I look forward to working with him in the future.

     Mr. President.

     PRESIDENT  OBASANJO:   Thank  you very much, sir.  I want to take this opportunity  to thank President Bush for the invitation to visit the United States  of America at this particular time, and to be able to establish our relationship  and  at  the  same time be able to cover the important areas, ground  -- of important areas of bilateral relations of areas of concern in our  subregion  of  West  Africa,  areas of concern in Africa, particularly areas  of  --  that  are  ravaged  by  war  and  conflict,  such as Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone and so on.

     And  what we are doing in these areas, we briefed the President.  And, of  course,  we  have the support of the government of the United States in our peacekeeping and conflict resolution efforts in Africa.

     We  discussed other issues that are of importance to us.  We discussed the  MAP,  the  Millennium  African Plan, which initially was originated by President  Thabo  Mbeki, President Bouteflika and myself, and which now has been  extended  to  take  on Egypt, President Mubarak, and President Wad of Senegal.

     We  also look at issues that have been on the table before and that we are  working  together  on.  For instance, how do we prepare our troops for these increasing peacekeeping roles in Africa, and the systems that we have got in the past from the U.S. government for which we are very grateful and which  we  believe  will  continue, to really make our troops to be able to perform adequately in peacekeeping roles.

     We,  of  course,  reiterated the friendship and the cordiality between Nigeria  and  the  United States.  And, of course, I am happy to be able to make  a friend of President Bush, just as you heard President Bush had made a  friend  of  me.   I  now  can  feel that if there is any need to call on President  Bush,  he  knows  what  I  look  like.   (Laughter).  I am not a no-person to him.  He knows how I smile.  He may even be feeling how I look on telephone.

     And  that is one important thing, that we made contact, we established a relationship and we are friends.  Thank you very much.

     PRESIDENT  BUSH:   Mr.  President, thank you very much.  It's an honor for you to be here.  Thank you.

                         END                  1:10 P.M. EDT