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Skriven 2005-04-25 23:35:54 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0504258) for Mon, 2005 Apr 25
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Joint Statement by President Bush and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
April 25, 2005

Joint Statement by President Bush and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah
Crawford, Texas



Sixty years ago, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia's founder King Abdulaziz Al Saud held a historic meeting upon a
sturdy ship at the Great Bitter Lake in the Suez Canal. In six hours
President Bush's predecessor and the Crown Prince's father established a
strong personal bond that set the tone for decades of close relations
between our two nations.

Today, we renewed our personal friendship and that between our nations. In
our meeting we agreed that momentous changes in the world call on us to
forge a new relationship between our two countries -- a strengthened
partnership that builds on our past partnership, meets today's challenges,
and embraces the opportunities our nations will face in the next sixty
years.

Our friendship begins with the recognition that our nations have proud and
very distinct histories.

The United States respects Saudi Arabia as the birthplace of Islam, one of
the world's great religions, and as the symbolic center of the Islamic
faith as custodian of Islam's two holy places in Makkah and Madina. Saudi
Arabia reiterates its call on all those who teach and propagate the Islamic
faith to adhere strictly to the Islamic message of peace, moderation, and
tolerance and reject that which deviates from those principles. Both
countries agree that this message of peace, moderation, and tolerance must
extend to those of all faiths and practices. The two nations reaffirm the
principles agreed to during the international conference on
counterterrorism hosted by the Kingdom in February 2005. These principles
were enshrined in the "Riyadh Declaration" which calls for, "fostering
values of understanding, tolerance, dialogue, co-existence, and the
rapprochement between cultures. . . [and] for fighting any form of thinking
that promotes hatred, incites violence, and condones terrorist crimes which
can by no means be accepted by any religion or law."

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia recognizes the principle of freedom upon which
the United States was founded, including the freedoms enshrined under the
first amendment of the United States Constitution. The Kingdom appreciates
the United States' historic role in working to end colonialism and
imperialism and promoting the right of self-determination.

While the United States considers that nations will create institutions
that reflect the history, culture, and traditions of their societies, it
does not seek to impose its own style of government on the government and
people of Saudi Arabia. The United States applauds the recently held
elections in the Kingdom for representatives to municipal councils and
looks for even wider participation in accordance with the Kingdom's reform
program.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States are close partners in
many important endeavors. We welcome the renewed determination of Saudi
Arabia to pursue economic reform and its quest to join the World Trade
Organization (WTO). We will work together as partners to complete our
negotiations and with other WTO members in Geneva with the aim of welcoming
Saudi Arabia into the WTO before the end of 2005.

Both nations pledge to continue their cooperation so that the oil supply
from Saudi Arabia will be available and secure. The United States
appreciates Saudi Arabia's strong commitment to accelerating investment and
expanding its production capacity to help provide stability and adequately
supply the market.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States commit to actively help
the Iraqi people realize their aspirations to build a secure, sovereign,
prosperous, and unified nation at peace with its neighbors and where Iraqis
of all religions and ethnic groups are free to participate in its
institutions. Both nations call on the international community to support
Iraq's political and economic development. Both nations urge neighboring
states not to interfere in Iraq's internal political affairs.

Both our nations have witnessed the horror of terrorism on our homelands by
violent individuals and groups who indiscriminately kill people of all
faiths and nationalities in order to further their extremist agenda. Both
our nations assert our determination to continue to improve upon our close
cooperation to combat terrorism and to choke off resources intended for
them and their support networks. We honor the memory of the victims of
terrorism-and those who have lost their lives fighting terrorists-and
pledge to work together until terrorism no longer threatens our nations and
the entire world.

The United States and Saudi Arabia continue to support efforts to prevent
the spread of nuclear weapons, and of the technology and materiel needed to
develop and build nuclear weapons. Efforts to develop and acquire such
weapons run contrary to efforts to promote peace and stability in the
region.

The United States and Saudi Arabia support UN Security Council Resolution
1559 and, accordingly, take note of Syria's decision to withdraw all its
troops and intelligence personnel from Lebanon. Both nations welcome a
provisional Lebanese government and look forward to free and fair elections
unburdened by foreign interference or intimidation.

With regard to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the United States and the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia desire a just, negotiated settlement wherein two
democratic states, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace and
security. We will continue our efforts to achieve this objective, and
reiterate our support for the efforts of the Palestinian Authority to bring
democracy, peace, and prosperity to all Palestinians. The United States
thanks Crown Prince Abdullah for his bold initiative-adopted unanimously by
the Arab Summit in 2002-that seeks to encourage an Israel-Palestinian and
Israel-Arab peace. We believe that an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and
parts of the West Bank will be a significant step forward toward
implementation of the Road Map. It is our firm conviction that resolving
the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will remove a major source of tension and
contribute to stability and progress in the region.

Finally, the United States and Saudi Arabia agree that our future relations
must rest on a foundation of broad cooperation. We must work to expand
dialogue, understanding, and interactions between our citizens. This will
include programs designed to (1) increase the number of young Saudi
students to travel and study in the United States; (2) increase our
military exchange programs so that more Saudi officers visit the United
States for military education and training; and (3) increase the number of
Americans traveling to work and study in the Kingdom. The United States
recognizes we must exert great efforts to overcome obstacles facing Saudi
businessmen and students who wish to enter the United States and we pledge
to our Saudi friends that we will take on this effort. A high-level joint
committee has been established to be headed by the Saudi Foreign Minister
and the U.S. Secretary of State that will deal with strategic issues of
vital importance to the two countries.

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