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Skriven 2005-03-09 23:33:18 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0503093) for Wed, 2005 Mar 9
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President and President B_sescu Discuss U.S.-Romanian Partnership
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 9, 2005

President and President B_sescu Discuss U.S.-Romanian Partnership
The Oval Office

President's Remarks
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11:27 A.M. EST

PRESIDENT BUSH: We'll have brief opening statements. The President and I
will take two questions per side.

Mr. President, welcome.

PRESIDENT B_SESCU: Thank you very much.

PRESIDENT BUSH: I am impressed by your leadership. I am grateful for your
friendship. Romania has been a steadfast ally of freedom. And, Mr.
President, I can't thank you enough for coming to discuss a wide range of
subjects.

We discussed the neighborhood, and he gave me very good advice about
Moldova. We discussed the Black Sea. And the President has got a clear
vision as to how to make sure the world is more peaceful. We discussed the
fact that freedom is spreading throughout the Middle East. We discussed our
bilateral relations.

I told the President I'm most impressed by his campaign to rid the
government of corruption in Romania -- a steadfast, strong commitment. He
believes in transparency and rule of law, and that is very important for
American companies looking for a place to invest to hear from the leader of
the country. But the thing about this President, he's more than words --
he's action.

And so, Mr. President, I welcome you to the Oval Office, I thank you for
your friendship and I'm proud to call you friend.

PRESIDENT B_SESCU: Thank you very much, Mr. President. I'm happy being here
in my first visit over the ocean from when I was elected as President of
Romania. I'm happy to discuss with our ally, the President Bush, with the
United States, I am happy to pass our message regarding democracy,
regarding freedom, regarding development of our strategic partnership,
regarding the problems which the Black Sea we have in this moment, and
regarding the solutions which we can find together in order to make a
peaceful and secure area on the Black Sea.

At same time, I was happy to discuss with Mr. President the future
evolutions of our access on the United States. Romania considers that we
can be included on the program of allowing Romanians to circulate without a
visa on the United States. And I thank you very much, to President Bush,
for the open approach regarding this subject.

Thank you very much, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Welcome. A couple of questions. Terry.

Q Mr. President, how credible do you think U.S. intelligence is about
Iran's nuclear program? Do you think it's solid enough to make judgments
about whether Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons?

PRESIDENT BUSH: I think it's -- I think it's very important for the United
States to continue to work with our friends and allies which believe that
the Iranians want a nuclear weapon and which know that Iran possessing a
nuclear weapon would be very destabilizing.

In my trip to Europe, I discovered common ground with a lot of European
nations, which believe and are worried about Iranian intention. And one
reason there needs to be worry about Iran is that this is a non-transparent
society, there's no openness. And so I think it's very wise for the free
world to be concerned about Iranian weapons and it's very easy -- the
Iranian's desire to develop a weapon, and it's very easy for them to solve
the problem, and that is to not only give assurances about any nuclear
weapons program, but to allow full IAEA inspection processes in a
transparent way.

Anybody from the Romanian press? Mr. President, you call on somebody.

Q Yes, sir.

PRESIDENT B_SESCU: Romanian Television, please.

Q Yes, please; one question. As Romania becomes part and a springboard for
democracy and freedom in the area of the Black Sea, how will this project
affect the well being of the Romanian people?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, I think one thing -- I'll never forget my trip to
Bucharest -- it was the rainbow speech. (Laughter.) It was a mystical
experience for me. It was one of the most amazing moments of my presidency,
to be speaking in the square, the very square where Ceausescu gave his last
speech. And the rainbow that I saw in the midst of the rainstorm ended
right behind the balcony from my point of view. It's a clear signal that,
as far as I was concerned, that freedom is powerful and --

PRESIDENT B_SESCU: It meant the signal of destiny, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, we'll see. But my point to you is, is that I was
there to assure the Romanian people that we were an ally and that the
Romanian people need not worry about their security, that the United
States, through NATO and through bilateral relations, was committed to the
security of our friend.

So the people of Romania need to know that the days are passed when -- you
know, when outside forces could threaten them without help. And that's
important for a society to be -- to be -- to recognize there are strong
enough allies to allow the society to develop, to have gone from a day of
dictatorial regime to one of a free society. And that's not an easy
transition, but it certainly makes the transition easier, knowing full well
that there is security available through bilateral relations, as well as
through NATO.

Adam.

Q Yes, Mr. President, thank you. You have made daily calls on Syria to
fully withdraw from Lebanon and warn that they are being isolated. But what
are the consequences if they don't pull out? Do they face international
sanctions?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, we are working with our friends and allies on this
very important issue. I'd like to reiterate my call, and that is, in order
for those elections to be free in Lebanon, there must be -- the Syrians
must remove their troops, as well as their intelligence services. One of
the things a lot of people don't understand is that Syrian influence is
heavy-handed through the involvement of intelligence services throughout
the government. And they must remove both in order for the election to be
free.

And we're working with friends and allies about steps forward, what to do.
Right now, President Assad has said he's removing to the Bekaa Valley. That
is a half measure. It is a measure, but it's a half measure. And 1559 is
very clear. We worked with France and the Security Council to pass 1559,
which said, complete removal, not half measures, but total removal. And so
we'll continue to work with our allies to make our -- make our demands
known to the world.

The world is speaking now. That's what the President Assad must understand.
It's not just the western world that speaks. I was most impressed by Crown
Prince Abdallah's statement, that said to the Syrian President: You must
adhere to 1559.

Q President Bush, the Romanian President keeps on saying that he favors a
special partnership between Washington, London, and Bucharest. Would you
confirm that role of special ally in Southeastern Europe of Romania?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, I view the -- I view Romania as a special ally
because Romania shares the same values that we share: human rights, human
dignity, rule of law, transparency in government, anti-corruption. And this
President, I think, is a special leader because he has made a commitment to
those values. We want to work with our friends in the region to bring
stability and peace. And I value his advice and judgment. I mean, he's no
better person to listen to on issues such as Moldova than the neighbor of
Moldova.

And so he came to the Oval Office. I asked him what I can do to help, what
can we do to move democracy forward, because the President understands that
a democratic neighbor is one that will be a peaceful neighbor.

Listen, we all long for peace, and we understand the world will be more
peaceful as freedom spreads. Free societies don't attack their neighbors.
Free societies work for ways to live in peace. And so this is a special
relationship because of the shared values, and I am honored to call the
President my friend, and I'm honored to call Romania a strong ally.

And I want to thank you all for coming.

END 11:37 A.M. EST
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