Text 4494, 69 rader
Skriven 2007-05-02 23:30:52 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0705023) for Wed, 2007 May 2
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President Bush Welcomes President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen to the White
House
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary May 2, 2007

President Bush Welcomes President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen to the White
House Oval Office

˙ /news/releases/2007/05/20070502-3.wm.v.html ˙˙White House News


11:44 A.M. EDT

PRESIDENT BUSH: It is my honor to welcome the President of Yemen to the
Oval Office. I have gotten to know the President over the past six years of
my presidency. I feel comfortable saying, welcome, my friend.

I had the privilege of calling President Saleh after the elections of
Yemen. I told him, I said it was a remarkable occurrence that his great
country had a free and open election. I've had a chance to congratulate him
and thank him in person today.

We had a very good discussion about the neighborhood in which the President
lives. And we spent a lot of time talking about our mutual desire to bring
radicals and murderers to justice. And I thanked the President for his
strong support in this war against extremists and terrorists.

So I'm glad you're here.

PRESIDENT SALEH: (As translated.) Thank you very much, Mr. President, for
the good reception and hospitality, and also for the excellent and fruitful
talks that we had. I'm very pleased for the limitless support by President
Bush and the United States for Yemen in the field of combating terror.
Yemen is an essential partner of the United States of America and the
international community in combating terror. We will continue in this path,
on this track.

We had the chance to discuss a number of issues with Mr. President,
including a number of issues in the Middle East region, the
Palestinian-Israeli problem, the situation in Somalia, the situation in
Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan. We found a complete understanding on the issues
that we have discussed with Mr. President Bush. We also discussed the
bilateral relations between Yemen and the United States.

I would like on this occasion to highly express my gratification and my
appreciation for the brave position taken by President Bush since the first
moment he took power in this country, since he expressed his belief in the
establishment of an independent Palestinian state, side by side with the
state of Israel. And I wish that His Excellency would pursue his effort and
will continue his effort in implementing the Arab initiative which was
adopted in the summit of Beirut to maintain peace in the region. I am sure
that adopting such initiative would end 70 percent of the problems in the
region.

Of course, you will be in history if you can be successful in establishing
the independent Palestinian state before leaving the White House.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Shukran.

END 11:50 A.M. EDT

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