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Skriven 2007-06-10 23:30:58 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0706103) for Sun, 2007 Jun 10
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Press Gaggle by Dana Perino
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary June 10, 2007

Press Gaggle by Dana Perino Aboard Air Force One En route Sofia, Bulgaria

˙˙Press Briefings


5:27 P.M. (Local)

MS. PERINO: Hi. It's a short flight, and I thought I would just give you
some color on the day and then answer any questions you might have.

Let me give you a little bit about Mrs. Bush's day, just a couple of things
of color for you. One of the things she attended this morning -- she went
to an orphanage, a family center that's run by Bethany Christian Services,
out of the United States. It's a group house for young children. It's a
faith-based organization, with a mix of private and public funding; they do
get USAID funding. She was just -- the impression was that she felt that
they were doing really wonderful work.

And one of the things she mentioned is that the folks who work in the home
are Americans, moms and dads who come over and sometimes bring their
children, if they have children, and then live here in Albania to help take
care of those children, and they home-school their own.

And one other bit of color. You might have noticed some of the people in
the street had on those tall Uncle Sam hats. One of the women she had lunch
with is named -- she was the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, and her
name was Edith Harxhi. And she told a story that she remembered her
brother, in 1991 her brother was eight years old and that's when Secretary
of State James Baker came to visit Albania. And he made his own tall Uncle
Sam hat, using crayons. She said she never forgot that, and so she worked
with the Embassy in order to get those hats for those that were lining the
streets.

And the last thing on Mrs. Bush -- and I'll get into the roundtable in a
moment -- I don't know if we've given you the backgrounder yet on the
people who were in the roundtable at that last stop -- second to last stop.
One of them was a barber shop and beauty product owner, Blerim Dema. And he
and his wife are expecting a baby girl any day now -- they know it will be
a girl, and they told Mrs. Bush they are going to name her Laura.

And at one of the places she was today for lunch, they are going to name
that the Laura Bush Salon -- for beauty products, not a lounging area.

Okay. You heard from the President and the Prime Minister at the press
conference. I just wanted to tell you one quote from that meeting. The
President said to him, "You are writing an amazing chapter for history on
freedom. It will be amazing to look back on all you've done. I congratulate
you on it." I'll just say that quote quickly one more time: "You are
writing an amazing chapter for history on freedom. It will be amazing to
look back on all you've done. I congratulate you on it."

And the Prime Minister said to the President, "We are writing the chapter
together. We are very grateful and proud for all of the help. We are very
honored. We are a functioning democracy. We have our problems, but we are
getting there. We were like North Korea, but now we're a functioning
democracy."

Q Where was that?

MS. PERINO: In the President's meeting with the Prime Minister, right
before the press availability.

A little bit of color on the roundtable. I told you about the barbershop
owner. The roundtable was made up of participants who received micro-credit
loans. And the micro-credit services gets their money from USAID. There was
a sheep herder there who said he had considered emigrating in order to find
work. And he did go to Greece and he worked there for six months, and he
saved some money. And when he came back he got some land, but it was very
difficult to raise enough sheep in order to have a thriving business.
Eventually, though, with this micro-credit program, he went up to 60 heads
of sheep. He also was able to secure a mortgage so that he could build a
house right there -- he said he needed to be near his livestock in order
for that business to work. And now he has, with the help of the program,
over 400 head of livestock. He has four kids, three of them in school. And
he said to the President that, "Sheepherding is looked down upon; it's not
a very sophisticated profession. Some may think it's not very dignified,
but I feel proud to work in this critical area because it helps with the
businesses and it helps also feed my country." And the President said, "Let
me remind you of something. We come from Texas, and raising livestock is a
very proud profession. And I'd rather sit down with a livestock raiser than
a big-city lawyer any day."

Just one other --

Q On the micro-credit, do you know what size loans these are?

MS. PERINO: I will get that for you. They can be as low as $25, and then up
to a certain amount -- but I'll see how much they have.

And then the last one that I would just give you a little color on was a
woman who works, actually, for the micro-credit lending service, she's
Albanian, she's worked there about a year-and-a-half. She said two years
ago they only had 550 credit applications; today they have over 1,200
clients. And she said they are dedicated to customer service and focused on
the mission of small business to help stabilize the businesses, which help
the whole nation's economy. And she did want to thank the American people
for the taxpayer dollars that are going to help them. And they're looking
to build themselves up into an actual bank. And the President said, "That's
a real sign of progress." And then he said, "I have three more observations
of Albania to share with you." He said, "I can smell potential in Albania."
He said, "The flat tax will help small businesses" -- they have a 10
percent flat tax. And he said, "I want to help you. America wants to help
you." And then he went over to the bakery. They had a wonderful visit.

Q Dana, was the Secret Service at all nervous about how people grabbed at
him and touched him?

MS. PERINO: Well, the Secret Service always makes sure the President is
safe, and if they felt he wasn't safe, they wouldn't have put him in that
position. Obviously, the crowd was very enthusiastic and excited to see the
first sitting President of the United States. But he was safe and I think
that he really enjoyed meeting all those people, he really did.

Q Dana, do you know if the crowd had been screened beforehand?

MS. PERINO: Had the crowd been swept?

MR. DECKARD: I'll find that out for you.

Q Thank you.

END 5:35 P.M. (Local)
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