President Bush Meets with Indian Prime Minister Singh

Technorati Tags: G8 and G-8 summit or St. Petersburg Russia and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, or President Bush and Constantine Palace, or G8 Summit Declaration on Counter Terrorism, and VIDEO, or India, and Junior G8, or Junior 8,

President Bush Meets with Indian Prime Minister Singh, Cottage Nine, Konstantinovsky Palace Complex, 8:11 A.M. (Local) FULL STREAMING VIDEO, G-8 Summit 2006

President George W. Bush embraces India’s Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, left, and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, right, at the Konstantinovsky Palace Complex Monday,

July 17, 2006. President Bush met with the two leaders separately in bilateral meetings during the G8 Summit in Strelna, Russia. White House photo by Eric Draper.

THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for coming over this morning. It's always a pleasure to be in your company. He's one of the really true gentlemen in the international arena. He's got a wonderful heart. I know you've been through difficult times, and America mourns the loss of innocent life as a result of the terrorist attacks.

One of the issues that we've been discussing here at the G8 is the recent terrorist activities in the Middle East. Yesterday, in working with other members of the G8, we cobbled together a very important statement. I'm most pleased that the leaders came together to say, look, we condemn violence, we honor innocent life.

However, for the first time we've really begun to address with clarity the root causes of the conflict, the recent conflict in the Middle East, and that is terrorist activity -- namely, Hezbollah, that's housed and encouraged by Syria, financed by Iran, are making these moves to stop the progress of peace. We would hope that by addressing the conditions of this violence we could get to a situation where there was calm. We're going to work hard as nations to address the root cause. Yesterday was an important statement. The reason I tell you that is that you'll find nations willing to work together for the common good here.

I also look forward to discussing with you our trade matters, as well as the wonderful deal you and I negotiated. Our Congress is working on that important piece of legislation that will encourage and allow India and U.S. cooperation, and I'm optimistic that we will get that passed.

At any rate, welcome, and thank you, sir. I'd be glad for you to make some comments.

PRIME MINISTER SINGH: Mr. President, thank you very much on your words of sympathy and support in the wake of these terrible terrorist acts in Mumbai and (inaudible). I've just been there -- 200 people, innocent men, women and children have perished, about 800 citizens injured -- (inaudible) -- in various hospitals. It was such a moving sight, people without limbs and always sad. And I'm grateful to you, you gave me help from Germany and I deeply appreciate your generosity. Your kindness, your sympathy and support mean a great deal to me, President. (Inaudible.)

Sir, your visit to our country in March, and in the company of the First Lady was a landmark. (Inaudible) are working together between our two countries. And I'm glad to report to you that we are making progress in all directions. India was the idea of getting the business community of our two countries engaged. You suggested we set up a CEOs forum. That forum is very active. It has produced a number of good ideas. We'll follow it up by an investor's summit towards the end of the year.

Sir, India is still very largely an agricultural country; 65 percent of all people live on land. And the initiative that you took, and (inaudible) put also your ideas and knowledge initiated a second green revolution in our country. We have now agreed on a road map. We have identified sectors like agricultural education, food processing, water management, (inaudible) as the key areas which will be the focus of this agriculture initiative. It means a great deal to us, to build a new trust to agricultural innovation, agricultural productivity. I thank your active support.

In science and technology also, Mr. President, we have now agreed to work together and invite national (inaudible) and science and technology coordinators (inaudible). They have no outline, a roadmap. And I am very happy that both our administrations are working very hard to give concrete meaning and substance to our cooperation.

And I thank you, Mr. President, for your efforts and Secretary Rice's effort in getting the legislation with regard to nuclear cooperation moving through the Congress. We have (inaudible) really intensely what has been written into these bills. And I must confess to you that while we deeply appreciate your personal involvement, Secretary Rice's (inaudible) -- she appeared before the Congress -- there are some concerns which (inaudible) -- believe our parliament. And like you, we are a democracy; we have a parliament which is very jealous of what we do and what we don't do. And we have -- these concerns are made, and I sincerely hope that we can find constructive solutions to all these problems. So this truly is landmark cooperation.

I recall it -- I said to you that, Mr. President, that this is a (inaudible) consideration of India and the U.S. (Inaudible).

END 8:17 A.M. (Local), For Immediate Release, Office of the Press Secretary, July 17, 2006

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President Bush Meets with President Hu of China at the G-8 Summit (VIDEO)

Technorati Tags: G8 and G-8 summit or St. Petersburg Russia and President Hu Jintao, or President Bush and Constantine Palace, or G8 Summit Declaration on Counter Terrorism, and VIDEO, or China, and Junior G8, or Junior 8,

President Bush Meets with President Hu of China at the G-8 Summit, Konstantinovsky Palace Complex, Strelna, Russia, 3:53 P.M. (Local), FULL STREAMING VIDEO, G-8 Summit 2006

President George W. Bush welcomes President Hu Jintao of the People's Republic of China for a meeting at the G8 Summit in Strelna, Russia, Sunday, July 16, 2006.

"The United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution dealing with the North Korean issue, and I want to thank you for your leadership on that, Mr. President," said President Bush. "We're working together on the Iranian issue. We talked about the Middle East. I want to thank you very much for our continued dialogue on bilateral issues. White House photo by Eric Draper.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Mr. President, thank you for coming by to say hello. I remember fondly your visit to Washington, D.C., a very successful trip to our Nation's Capital and other parts of our country. I want to thank you for the discussion we've had today.

The United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution dealing with the North Korean issue, and I want to thank you for your leadership on that, Mr. President. We're working together on the Iranian issue. We talked about the Middle East. I want to thank you very much for our continued dialogue on bilateral issues. We spent a lot of time on economics and trade.

All in all, it's a continuation of the very good dialogue we had during your trip to Washington, and I want to thank you for coming.

PRESIDENT HU: (As translated.) Ladies and gentlemen, I'm very happy to have the opportunity to meet you here. As President Bush said, just now we had a very friendly and candid discussion. To start with the discussion, I expressed my heartfelt thanks to the American side for the warm reception afforded to me during my visit to the United States in April this year by President Bush, the American government and the American people.

In addition, we also had an in-depth discussion on the China-U.S. relationship and major international issues of mutual interest. Both President Bush and I speak highly of the development of China-U.S. relationship as it is today. We also are happy to see that the agreement President Bush and I reached on comprehensively moving forward the constructive and cooperative China-U.S. relationship is being gradually implemented.

We both agreed to continue to view and handle the China-U.S. relationship from a strategic plane, I mean a long-term perspective. In addition, we also agreed to work hard to expand the convergent interests between the two countries and step up our pragmatic cooperation in the economic, trade, energy, science, technology, counter-terrorism, non-proliferation and military fields.

At the same time, we also believe that we need to respect and properly address each other's concerns and properly handle the sensitive issues in the bilateral relationship, so that we can continue to move forward this relationship.

We both believe that against the current backdrop of a complex and volatile international situation, to enhance the consultation and the coordination between China and the United States on major regional, as well as international issues, serves the interests of both countries. This is also crucial to international peace and stability.

Both sides expressed their commitment to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia as a whole, and both sides agreed to continue their efforts to move forward the six-party talks, so that at the end of the day, the entire Korean Peninsula could be denuclearized in peaceful way through dialogue and in negotiations.

Both sides indicated their willingness to work together to continue to seek a peaceful solution to the Iranian nuclear issue. We also discussed the situation in the Middle East.

In this afternoon's discussion, we also spent quite a lot of time in an in-depth manner on our economic ties and trade, and on the Taiwan question.

I am satisfied with the discussion with President Bush. Thank you.

END 4:01 P.M. (Local), For Immediate Release, Office of the Press Secretary, July 16, 2006

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