QUOTE OF THE DAY
President Bush Welcomes Chancellor Merkel of Germany to the White House
Cross Hall
PRESIDENT BUSH: Madam Chancellor, thank you. Welcome back to Washington. It's good to welcome you here to the White House. And Laura and I are looking forward to feeding you dinner. I'm not so sure it's going to be as good a dinner as the barbecue you fed us -- (laughter) -- but we'll try.
This new year marks the beginning of Germany's presidency of both the EU and the G8. And we just had a wide-ranging discussion about a lot of issues. We talked about the Chancellor's ambitious agenda for both those leadership roles. We discussed how we can continue to work together to promote prosperity and security and peace.
We spent time talking about Afghanistan, and I appreciate very much, Madam Chancellor, your support for the people of Afghanistan. You take your NATO commitments seriously. We're proud to serve alongside such a strong ally.
We talked about Iran, and I thanked Chancellor Merkel's strong support for a Chapter 7 Iranian -- Chapter 7 United Nations Security Council resolution on Iran. It was an important message to send Iran, that the free world wants there to be a peaceful future. And we don't see a peaceful future with the Iranians developing a nuclear weapon. And so I want to thank you for your leadership, Madam Chancellor. We're going to continue to work together on the Iranian issue. It's important for us to follow through in order -- on this Chapter 7 resolution in order to solve this issue peacefully.
We talked about the Israeli-Palestinian issue. And Madam Chancellor had a good idea to convene the Quartet, which I agreed to. I think the Quartet ought to meet at an appropriate time. Condoleezza Rice will be going to the Middle East here shortly. She'll come back to report to not only me but also to the Chancellor, about how we can move the process forward. We're committed -- strongly committed to a two-state solution with Israeli and Palestine living side by side in peace, two democracies supporting each other's rights to exist. I'm optimistic that we can achieve that objective; I'm looking forward to working with the Chancellor to do so.
CHANCELLOR MERKEL: (As translated) .............
Obviously, we also talked about the situation in Iraq. Allow me to say although Germany is not militarily present in Iraq, we have every interest in seeing Iraq taking a turn for a more peaceful development, where people no longer need to be in fear of their lives, and that politically we shall do everything we can in order to give support to such a positive development.
Well, my impression is that over the next six months during our presidency there is a lot on the agenda. There are a lot of common interests, as a I said, and a lot of areas where I feel we can tackle problems together. And I think this dialogue is just the beginning of a very intensive dialogue we shall continue to have during our presidency -- this is, after all, a sixth meeting already. So I think we may safely speak of a continuous exchange of views. Thank you yet again for the invitation, Mr. President.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
President George W. Bush (R) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel shake hands after speaking with the media at the White House in Washington January 4, 2007.