PARTICIPANTS:
Jim Jeffrey, Deputy National Security Advisor
Dan Price, Deputy National Security Advisor for Economic Affairs
Chris Hill, Ambassador
6:15 P.M. (Local)
MS. PERINO: Good evening. I will -- I won't go through the schedule, because you know the schedule; it's at the end of the day. I'm going to have the Deputy National Security Advisor, Jim Jeffrey, talk about the meetings today, especially the foreign policy and political aspects of the meeting. Dan Price will again go over the economic issues, of which there are significant ones, obviously, at the economic conference. And then we have the special treat of having Ambassador Hill here, who will talk to you about some six-party talks and a development there. And then I will come up at the end if you have anything else.
Jim.
MR. JEFFREY: Thank you, Dana. Good evening.
There's quite a bit to cover today, so I will try to go through it fairly briefly. Let me start with the ASEAN lunch that the President offered to the ASEAN leaders. The meeting -- the luncheon began with the President emphasizing his great esteem for ASEAN, ASEAN's role in the region, its particular position within the constellation of organizations that are so important to us, beginning with APEC here in the Asia Pacific region. The President then, to underline this, announced that he was appointing an ambassador to ASEAN and, at the same time, invited the ASEAN leaders to a summit in Texas to celebrate the 30th anniversary.
The President then talked a bit about terrorism, following up on the themes that he raised in his address this morning to the business leaders, praising the efforts in Indonesia, the Philippines and elsewhere. This was followed by an exchange with the leaders on terrorism in the region, how not only to combat specific groups, but also how to reach out to the peoples of the region, how to ensure that we have programs in place that will help us nip in the bud those who are inclined to move towards terrorism.
This led to, very interestingly, queries by the various members of ASEAN on how security structures and security activities support the overall situation in this region and throughout -- and globally. We were gratified to hear the Sultan of Brunei state to the President that America's efforts with our allies and friends in the security realm had helped the countries of ASEAN and the countries of Asia focus on trade and economic development.
They were very interested in the Middle East and more than one acknowledged that security in the Middle East was a security concern not just for the United States or the people of the Middle East, but also for the people of East Asia. And the President described in some detail our policies on Iraq, why he believes that we have turned the corner and that we're seeing more and more victories in Anbar and Baghdad. He's made these comments publicly again this morning and elsewhere when he was in Anbar.
He then described problems with Iran, the very serious threat that Iran poses for the international community. He talked about our efforts collectively -- and he emphasized "collectively" -- to deal with this problem, finding a peaceful solution by getting Iran to yield on the enrichment question, suspending that in return for a suspension of U.N. Security Council resolution sanctions. He also talked about the overall threat of terrorism and extremism in the Middle East. He described in some detail his vision of a Middle East conference later this fall to bring together the Palestinians and the Israelis, and how important that is for the region and for global security, the need to see Arab countries, for example, participate in this effort. He underlined the importance of that to ensure that we do have success. And we had, as I said, a very, very good discussion of the security aspects of the East Asia Pacific architecture.
Let me cover quickly the discussion with President Roh of Korea. It began with a discussion again of Iraq. The President described the very high esteem in which the Korean soldiers in Irbil are held in by U.S. commanders. The President of Korea thanked the President for this and he described the situation with the Korean forces, that he's looking for ways to continue to support the international effort in Korea. And the President very much appreciated that. The President of Korea underlined that Korea wished to remain a good friend and a good ally of the United States, and contribute to the situation and our efforts in Iraq.
The two sides, of course, talked about the six-party discussions that we're having -- and you'll hear more of that from Ambassador Hill in a second. President Roh described the particular importance that he places on the emphasis of several aspects of the September 19, 2005 and February 2007 agreements on a peace and security mechanism in Northeast Asia, as well as the question of an eventual end under the right circumstances of the Korean War.
As you heard in the public statements at the end, the President agreed, referred to our position that we took in supporting the 2005 and 2007 agreements, but underlined that this is only a situation that we can realize if North Korea follows through entirely on the program of disabling its nuclear programs and providing a complete and accurate disclosure of all of its nuclear activities. The President of Korea was in full agreement with that.
After some more discussion of the situation in East Asia, the President and the President of Korea talked about the visa waiver program. We're trying to move forward to include South Korea in that program. And President Roh was very appreciative.
With President Putin, the discussion began with Iran, and the two sides reviewed where we are with the effort by the U.N. Security Council to stop the enrichment activities. President Putin was in full agreement with President Bush that this is necessary, that the -- what we call suspension-for-suspension program is the right way to go. They discussed a little bit President Bush's support for the Bushehr plan that the Russians are working on. The Russians would provide supplies of nuclear fuel.
The President underlined in this discussion his support -- I underline support -- for civilian nuclear programs in Iran. This offers Iran a way forward -- both nuclear energy, as well as a much different relationship with the international community. Again, there was full agreement on that particular subject.
There was also a discussion about terrorism, including terrorism in the Caucuses. The President raised the question of Georgia, how relations were between Georgia and Russia. President Putin described briefly the situation there. Again, they discussed the problem of international terrorism. They reviewed the particular problem along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and the efforts that we are making in collaboration with President Musharraf of Pakistan to deal with that.
Finally, the two discussed the missile defense situation, particularly how to move forward on the offers that have been made by the Russian side and the U.S. desire to have an effective missile defense system that would cover most of Europe and the United States from threats from the Middle East, specifically what we believe is a forthcoming threat from Iran.
President Putin reiterated his offer to host a U.S. military delegation with Russian experts at the Gabala radar site in Azerbaijan. We agreed, and in principle, this will happen later this month.
And that sums up the political side. In a second, Dan Price will come up and talk about the economic issues, which were equally extensive. What I would like to do very quickly is to review what's going to happen tomorrow with President Bush. First of all, he will have a breakfast with his Japanese and Australian counterparts to discuss basically East Asia Pacific architecture and broader political security issues. He'll then have a bilateral first with the Japanese Prime Minister and then with the Indonesian President. We will then get into the APEC program, first the meeting with the business forum, the luncheon, then the APEC retreat, followed by the cultural event and tomorrow night's dinner, wrapping it up.
Thank you very much. Dan.
. . .
MS. PERINO: Any last ones for these gentlemen? Go ahead.
Q Yes, could what happened with North Korea, is there something there that could be applied to Iran? Is there something that is going on in Iran maybe that we don't know, considering everything --
MR. JEFFREY: One of the things that President Bush has emphasized repeatedly in as many interventions and discussions here is the need to approach these common threats to international security from a multilateral standpoint. While he believes, as you all know, that force is always an option in extremists, the best way to move forward is through a multilateral approach, either in the U.N., as we're doing with Iran and the Security Council, or with the six-party talks as we're doing with Korea.
The specific question of, can you use experiences in one area and apply it to another, to some degree you can, bearing in mind that our primary -- not our only, but our primary concern with Iran is an enriched uranium-based nuclear threat that we see with their program of enrichment; in the case of Korea, it's plutonium-based with their reactor at Yongbyon. So to some degree there are technical differences.
Nonetheless, the basic underlying skill sets, in both cases we use the IAEA, I think very effectively, as an investigatory arm of the international community. They're active in Iran; they're active in North Korea. And so by and large, there is a certain familiarity of the two problems, but they are distinct.
MS. PERINO: All right, any more for me? We'll let you gentlemen go. Thank you.
Q Dana, President Bush didn't say much after the Putin meeting. I'm wondering if we should read anything into that, or --
MS. PERINO: No, in fact, I would not at all. It was a good meeting. In fact, one of the things that -- when President Putin started, he -- I think Elvis has left the building, we've got lots of folks running out to see Ambassador Hill -- but a very warm meeting. And the first thing President Putin said was, I have to tell you that I can't get those beautiful images of Kennebunkport out of my mind, and that he wants to -- in his retirement, he plans to go back there. And then he invited the President to go to Siberia at some point, where I think President Putin has been fishing this summer and rafting. And the President seemed eager to take him up on the invitation. That was on the lighter side of the meeting.
And then in terms of the substance of the policies that they're working together on, I think it was a very good meeting. So I wouldn't read anything out in terms of the President not saying a lot afterward. Obviously, it was at the end of a long day, and he's got another long one tomorrow.
. . .
END 7:56 P.M. (Local)