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Skriven 2006-07-13 23:34:20 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0607132) for Thu, 2006 Jul 13
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President Bush Welcomed by Chancellor Merkel in Germany
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
July 13, 2006

President Bush Welcomed by Chancellor Merkel in Germany
Stralsund Market Square
Stralsund, Germany


˙˙˙˙˙ President's Trip to Germany and Russia

9:55 A.M. (Local)

CHANCELLOR MERKEL: Mr. President, Mrs. Bush, Minister President, Lord
Mayor, ladies and gentlemen, citizens of Stralsund, let me say that I am
delighted to be able to welcome you on behalf of the representatives of the
land, and also of the city. I'm delighted to welcome most warmly the
President of the United States of America. Mr. President, a very, very warm
welcome to you. (Applause.)

Mr. President, I'm delighted to be able to welcome you here in this part of
our country that I can truly call my political home, the Hanseatic City of
Stralsund. Stralsund was part of the League of Hanseatic Cities -- that is
to say it is imbued with a spirit of openness to the rest of the world. And
in 1989, it was also one of the many cities where on Monday demonstrations
took place, where people went out into the streets to demand freedom, to
demonstrate for freedom. And we're happy to say in these days it is part of
the land of Mecklenburg-Vor Pommern and also part of the Federal Republic
of Germany.

And I think that this is a very good opportunity, indeed, to say a word of
thanks -- thank you for the contribution, for the support that we have
enjoyed throughout from the people of the United States of America, from
the American government, to help us along the way towards German
unification. I think we owe you a big debt of gratitude for being able to
finally live within one country in peace and freedom; one country --
Germany. (Applause.)

I think one can safely say that ever since we were able to achieve German
unity a lot has happened, and, indeed, Stralsund is a case in point. If you
look at the fact that when the GDR finally collapsed you had about 600
monuments here of historic importance in the city, itself, that were slowly
decaying, that were slowly in ruins, and part of them have been restored
over time. But there are still quite a lot of problems that remain to be
solved. One of them, obviously, is the fairly high unemployment in this
particular part of the country, the need for economic progress and economic
upturn. And this is why I am also delighted to have you here, to show you
here in my constituency what it means when people try to take their own
fate, their own future into their own hands and try to turn it to something
positive, they are willing to work for the future of the city, for the
future of this region.

And I think it also clearly illustrates what we can do together in order to
confront the international dangers, the threats at an international level
that are common to us all, and that we can do in order, together, work for
peace and freedom for our two countries.

Yet again, a very, very warm welcome to you, Mr. President. (Applause.)

PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you all. Thank you, Chancellor Merkel. Thank you all
for coming. Laura and I feel welcome here in Stralsund. To the Mayor, and
Minister President, and the people of this beautiful town, we say, Guten
Morgen. (Applause.)

For decades, the German people were separated by an ugly wall. Here in the
East, millions of you lived in darkness and tyranny. Today your nation is
whole again. The German people are at the center of Europe that is united
and free and peaceful.

You've given Germany a fine Chancellor in Angela Merkel, who I'm proud to
call friend. (Applause.) The American people and the German people see the
same qualities of character in your nation's leader. We see a bold vision
and a humble heart. We see that she's willing to make hard decisions and
eager to build strong partnerships. And like many others in the
international community, I respect her judgment and I value her opinion.
(Applause.)

It's such an honor to be in her constituency. When I met with her in the
Oval Office, she said, when you come to Germany, you need to come to one of
the best parts of Germany. (Applause.) She didn't predict the weather.
(Laughter.) But I want to thank the Mayor for delivering such a beautiful
day. (Applause.) And she forgot to tell me I was going to get some herring,
and I thank you for that gift.

I bring a message from the American people: We're honored to call the
German people friends and allies. (Applause.) We share common values and
common interests. We want to work together to keep the peace. We want to
work together to promote freedom. There's so much that we can do, working
together, and that's -- part of my visit today is to pledge to you and the
Chancellor, America and Germany stand side-by-side. (Applause.)

Thank you for your warm welcome. May God bless you all. Thank you very
much. (Applause.)

END 10:14 A.M. (Local)

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