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SECRETARY RICE: Good afternoon. It is my great pleasure to welcome to the United States and to the State Department, Foreign Minister Tarasyuk of Ukraine. We have had a very good discussion of the full range of issues in the U.S.-Ukrainian bilateral relationship.
I was able to say to the Foreign Minister how deeply moved Americans were by the expression of freedom that the Ukrainian people gave, by the example that they gave to the world of what happens when the aspirations of free people can no longer be denied. I was able to say that the United States and Ukraine, which have enjoyed bonds of friendship through our peoples for many years, now enjoy special relations in our governmental relationship. And I very much look forward to working with you, Foreign Minister.
Just earlier today, the White House announced that President Yushchenko will be visiting President Bush in April. We very much look forward to that. But this is a time when the march of freedom is progressing rapidly and remarkably. And the Ukrainian people have done their part in demonstrating that freedom matters, that freedom can bring a new energy to a people and that a great and longstanding culture like Ukraine can be reborn with an Orange Revolution in the 21st century.
Thank you very much, Foreign Minister.
MINISTER TARASYUK: Thank you. Thank you, Secretary. Good afternoon. I would like to express my gratitude to Secretary Rice for our extremely constructive and positive consultations and negotiations we had right now. I'm happy that the course of this visit in my -- new-old capacity as a Foreign Minister -- it became known to the American and Ukrainian public that the visit of President Yushchenko, the first visit of President Yushchenko, to the United States and the invitation of President Bush will take place this April 4th. And certainly, we were discussing the forthcoming visit of President Yushchenko, how to fill it with a very concrete feeling and content. We were discussing the issues of our bilateral agenda. And we agreed on some issues concerning the consultations on a visa regime. We discussed how to resolve the outstanding issues on our bilateral agenda, like provision to Ukraine of market economy status, the bilateral memorandum on the mutual access to markets in connection with WTO accession. We were discussing the gradation of Ukraine from Jackson-Vanik Amendment. Certainly, this is the issue which has to be tackled by the Congress. And yesterday, while meeting the people in the Congress, I got assurances that this issue will be resolved very soon.
In principle, we came to a conclusion that the visit of President -- forthcoming visit of President Yushchenko will be a new beginning in the Ukraine-U.S. relationship. And giving a new feeling, a new content, in the strategic partnership between our countries. I would like to say that both countries now under the new circumstances in Ukraine, after the Orange Revolution, new President, new government, we have a new environment and this environment is going to be filled with giant efforts and I suggest that United States and Ukraine be, well, partners and establish a kind of partnership for democracy.
I'm very positive and optimistic about our relationship and the forthcoming visit of President Yushchenko. And once again, Secretary, thank you very much for this constructive atmosphere you created.
SECRETARY RICE: Thank you.
MR. BOUCHER: We'll start with CNN.
QUESTION: Madame Secretary, if I might ask you to expand on your announcement about Iran and agreements with the European Union on incentives. Does this now mean that you are optimistic that Iran will abandon its uranium enrichment program and do you have a timetable for getting it to do so? How long are you going to give this new agreement?
Thank you.
SECRETARY RICE: Well, the key here was to establish with our European allies a common agenda, a common approach to the issue of getting the Iranians to live up to the international obligations which they have undertaken. And again, let's just be reminded that the Iranians have an obligation to demonstrate that they are not trying under cover of civilian nuclear power development to develop a nuclear weapon and there are grave concerns that they are trying to do that, suspicious activities that are being tracked by the IAEA, and so the European Union 3 had undertaken these negotiations.
We have said for quite a long time now that we supported this diplomatic effort and that we wanted it to succeed and that Iran ought to take the opportunity given to it. What we have tried to do in removing our objections to WTO application from the Iranians, and to the provision of certain spare parts to Iranian commercial aircraft, is to now more actively support that diplomatic effort.
But I want to be very clear. This is support for the European Union's effort which we hope would succeed and which we very much want to succeed, and that that is the support. There is very often too much talk about what the United States needs to do or what the European Union needs to do. We can now return the focus to what the Iranians need to do. And the Iranians need to take the opportunity that the Europeans are presenting them with to demonstrate that they are prepared to live up to their international obligations. I certainly hope that this will succeed. We are trying to help to give it its best chance to succeed. But now Iran faces a choice and the world will know whether Iran intends to do that.
We do not have a specific timetable. Obviously, these are negotiations. We will stay in close contact with our friends. This has been going on for some time. And I would think that if the Iranians are going to demonstrate that they are prepared to live up to their obligations that they would want to do that sooner rather than later.
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