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Skriven 2005-10-17 23:33:14 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0510171) for Mon, 2005 Oct 17
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President Meets with Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 17, 2005

President Meets with Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov
The Oval Office

President's Remarks
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10:53 A.M. EDT

PRESIDENT BUSH: We'll have opening statements, two questions a side.
Welcome, Mr. President.

Mr. President, your country is a strategic ally. It's been my honor to
welcome you to the Oval Office and thank you for a wide-ranging discussion
on a lot of important topics.

Bulgaria has been a valued partner in NATO. Your country has been a strong
example for democracy. You understand, like I understand, that the march of
democracy will lead to world peace. I want to thank you for being a part of
a vast coalition that helped liberate 50 million people. We discussed
important bilateral issues.

And I want to thank you again for coming, thank you for your leadership and
thank you for your friendship.

PRESIDENT PURVANOV: (As translated.) Thank you, Mr. President. Ladies and
gentlemen, I would like to say how pleased I am with the discussions we
just had with Mr. President. I am delighted that we had a chance to
reaffirm our specific partnership and to discuss, to go through the agenda
of some specific issues related.

I do appreciate the support we have been receiving from the United States
in becoming a reliable NATO member state, and also in joining the European
Union in time, that is, as of January '07. I value the high appreciation of
Bulgaria's role as a stabilizing factor in the Balkans that we receive.

I had the chance to reaffirm Bulgaria's commitment to remain an ally of the
anti-terrorist coalition. Of course, the specifics of that are going to be
discussed on an expert level. I appreciate the opportunity to raise some
concrete, specific issues and put on the table Bulgaria's ambitions,
particularly to get its military modernized and to be involved in some
energy products in the Balkans.

And I'm sure that after these meetings and talks, our institutions and the
people concerned, the experts will have a lot of work to do in order to
guarantee an influx of investment. I'm particularly pleased with this very
frank -- open and frank discussions we had.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you. Answer a couple of questions -- hold a second,
please. We'll go to the American side first. Deb.

Q Mr. President, would you expect a member of your administration to resign
or take leave if they were indicted?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Mr. President, there's an investigation going on; I've made
it very clear to the press that I'm not going to discuss the investigation.
And so, therefore -- and so my position hasn't changed since the last time
I've been asked this question. There's a serious investigation. We're not
going to -- I'm not going to pre-judge the outcome of the investigation.

Yes.

Q Mr. President, first, we remember 9/11 and we thank you for your
leadership, sir. The question is, in Bulgarian public opinion knows quite
well that the most important thing for us is to get our nurses back from
the jail in Libya, because they're facing a firing squad, sir, after few
weeks if the verdict is confirmed. So we are partners. You're the leader of
the most powerful nation on Earth. Why don't you help us, sir?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Do you want to interpret that?

We discussed this issue at length. Like the President, my heart breaks when
young children get sick. The position of the United States government is
the nurses ought to be freed. We have made our position known to the Libyan
government. There's no confusion -- there should be no confusion in the
Libyan government's mind. But those nurses ought to be not only spared
their life, but out of prison. And we will continue to make that message
perfectly clear.

Steve.

Q Sir, the vote on Saturday, does the Sunni vote against the Iraqi
constitution damage the political process? Will it increase the likelihood
of violence and American sacrifice?

PRESIDENT BUSH: My first reaction to the vote was that an increase in
turnout was an indication that the Iraqi people are strongly in favor of
settling disputes in a peaceful way; that they understand that working to
find common ground on a constitution is much better for their future than
relying upon killers and people who will kill innocent children and women
for the sake of creating havoc.

Secondly, I was pleased to see that the Sunnis participated in the process.
The idea of deciding to go into a ballot box is a positive development. The
idea that people are willing to try to work out their political differences
through a process, a peaceful process, stands in stark contrast to the al
Qaeda types and the terrorists and the killers that are trying to drive the
process through violence.

The way forward is clear. The political process will continue with a
constitution, if finally ratified, and then an election, coupled with a
security plan that continues to train Iraqis so they do the fight. The
violence in this election was down from the previous election. And one of
the reasons why is because the Iraqi forces took the fight to the enemy --
and provided security, which is really heartening to coalition forces and
friends and allies.

So yesterday was a very hopeful day for peace. It's an exciting day for a
country that only a few short years ago was ruled by a brutal tyrant. So
I'm pleased with the progress being made.

Q What do you think of Bulgaria's role -- of your ally, Bulgaria, as a
regional leader in the Balkans?

PRESIDENT BUSH: I think the -- I watched your election -- recent
parliamentary elections very closely. The people voted. And then coalitions
were formed for the good of the country. That's an example that many can
learn from. There's nothing more wholesome than a young democracy, not only
setting an example for others, but taking a lead in explaining to citizens
that the best way to resolve differences is through a political process
that is peaceful.

And so the President and I talked about Bulgaria's important role in taking
the lead in helping young democracies grow in strength. We're laying the
foundation for peace. Democracies are peaceful. They're at peace with their
neighbors. And the Balkans needs peace, the Middle East needs peace. And
working with friends like Bulgaria, we are laying that foundation for
peace.

I'm proud to have your friendship. Thank you.

END 11:06 A.M. EDT

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