President Bush to Visit Budapest, Hungary

UPDATE: JUNE 22, 2006, FULL STREAMING VIDEO, President's Remarks to the People of Hungary - "Here is the time, now or never! Shall we be slaves or free? This is the question, answer! By the God of the Hungarians we swear, We swear to be slaves no more!"

Technorati Tags: President Bush and White House or Hungarian Revolution and Hungary or Tom Lantos and Europe or Budapest Hungary and European Union Summit or President Laszlo Solyom and Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany

President Bush to Visit Budapest, Hungary

President Bush will visit Budapest, Hungary for a bilateral program on June 22, 2006, following his participation in the U.S.-European Union Summit in Vienna, Austria. In Budapest, the President will celebrate Hungary's historic sacrifices in the name of freedom by commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, underscore the success of the U.S.-European partnership in securing freedom in the region, and highlight the lessons offered from Hungary's successful transition from tyranny to free-market democracy.

Hungary is a close NATO ally, sharing its experiences with emerging democracies and committed to the war on terror. Hungary has made important contributions in support of democracy and security in the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The President looks forward to the opportunity to continue his discussions on our transatlantic agenda with President Laszlo Solyom and Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany.

# # # For Immediate Release, Office of the Press Secretary, June 8, 2006

Hungary was part of the polyglot Austro-Hungarian Empire, which collapsed during World War I. The country fell under Communist rule following World War II. In 1956, a revolt and announced withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact were met with a massive military intervention by Moscow.

Under the leadership of Janos KADAR in 1968, Hungary began liberalizing its economy, introducing so-called "Goulash Communism." Hungary held its first multiparty elections in 1990 and initiated a free market economy. It joined NATO in 1999 and the EU in 2004. CIA Fact Book

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President Bush Welcomes President Bachelet of Chile (VIDEO)

Technorati Tags: President Bush and White House or President Bachelet of Chile and Michelle Bachelet, or Chile

President Bush Welcomes President Bachelet of Chile to the White House FULL STREAMING VIDEO, The Oval Office 11:50 A.M. EDT Joint Statement Between the United States of America and the Republic of Chile and In Focus: Global Diplomacy

President George W. Bush welcomes President Michelle Bachelet of Chile to the Oval Office Thursday, June 8, 2006. White House photo by Kimberlee Hewitt.

PRESIDENT BUSH: It is such an honor for me to welcome to the Oval Office the President of Chile. Madam President, welcome.

PRESIDENT BACHELET: Thank you.

PRESIDENT BUSH: I was told ahead of time that I was to meet a very charming person, and my briefers were right. I appreciate very much your dedication to values that are important -- human rights and human decency, the right for people to be able to speak freely and to vote. I admire your personal story. I also thought it was very interesting that the President, before she came to see me, went by a middle school where she had been educated. It shows that she's dedicated to education and the welfare of the people.

I assured her that the United States of America shares her same sense of social justice, and that our desire is to help, when we can, people to become educated so they can realize their dreams.

We talked about the neighborhood. She shared with me her strategy to encourage there to be peaceful development and prosperous development. I assured the President I'm very interested in her points of view. I look forward to working with you. The neighborhood is very important to the United States of America; it's very important for our country to be engaged and working with friends and allies to help others. So I've been looking forward to this meeting for quite a while. We've got very good relations with Chile, and I intend to keep them that way.

And Madam President, you're welcome, I'm really glad you're here.

PRESIDENT BACHELET: Thank you, Mr. President. I am very glad to be here and as President Bush has said, Chile and the United States have very good relationships and we'll continue that way. And we have political, commercial relationships, and we really are happy of how our relations have developed. And we have talked and shared opinions about how we can build peace, how can we fight together against poverty, for social justice, how we can help strengthen democracy in the region. And how we also can look at issues as energy innovation, education, health and so on.

It's for me an honor to be here. After I lived here as a child, and then as an adult, it's always for me a wonderful possibility to be in a country where I have learned to love the American people, where I learned to -- some experiences as how you can live in a country with different cultures, traditions, the different ethnic groups, and that's possible, and how you can integrate. And we want to integrate more in the region, we want to continue developing the best relationships with the United States, with the government and we hope we succeed in this covenant.

Thank you, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you, appreciate it.

END 11:54 A.M. EDT, For Immediate Release, Office of the Press Secretary, June 8, 2006

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