[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2001, Book II)]
[October 4, 2001]
[Pages 1191-1193]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Following Discussions With President Vicente Fox of Mexico
October 4, 2001

    President Bush. It is my honor to welcome my friend back to the 
White House. It wasn't all that long ago that we were standing out here 
for the opening ceremony of the first and only state dinner I've had 
since I've been the President. He came as a friend then, and he's come 
back as a loyal friend to the United States.
    September 11th really changed America. President Fox understood that 
right off the

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bat. One of the first calls I got was from Vicente Fox. He called 
expressing his deep condolences to the American people. He was very kind 
to me. He wished me well.
    President Fox understands that an attack on America affects Mexico 
in a significant way. After all, there are millions of Mexican Americans 
and Mexican nationals living in America, men and women who saw a land 
they love attacked, men and women who have united around a great cause 
of defending freedom. In this country we don't ask the question, what is 
your religion, or where are you from? We ask the question, are you 
united to defend freedom? And there are millions of Mexican Americans 
who understand that call. So when the President said, ``We stand with 
you,'' he is not only saying, ``We stand with the United States 
Government''; he's saying, ``We stand with millions of people living in 
our country as well.''
    President Fox and I had a great discussion about ways we can 
continue to cooperate. We need to cooperate on security matters along 
our border, which we are. We need to continue working on other agenda 
items that we have been working on, and we will. Obviously, our Nation 
is now focused on the incidents of September 11th. But I assured him our 
relationship will go forward, that we'll work on the issues that we had 
discussed the last time we were here.
    I talked to my friend about our economy. It has been affected 
significantly by the actions of September the 11th. But I assured him 
that we will take an aggressive role at the Federal level to try to spur 
economic growth, which is very important since we've got a significant 
amount of trade between our nations.
    In sum, I'm so glad he came back. It's comforting to know that our 
friend to the south is going to be a friend in good times and in tough 
times.
    So, Mr. President, welcome back. Thank you for coming.
    President Fox. Thank you. And thank you, President, for the 
opportunity to be back here again, the opportunity to express very 
clearly, loudly, our sorrow, our solidarity with your Government, with 
the American people, with the victims and all those who suffered under 
these attacks, but also the opportunity to reaffirm our commitments.
    We are a friend; we are neighbors; we are partners. And we want to 
make very clear that this means commitment all the way and that we will 
keep our commitments. And we are working on an everyday basis, either in 
the border, either in customs, either in migration, either--on each of 
the subjects that have to do with security. We will be side by side in 
your efforts to defeat terrorism in the world and wherever it is. We 
will be coordinating, participating, collaborating on our side with our 
resources that we have at hand.
    And we know of your efforts not only to meet this challenge; we know 
the efforts also to keep America moving. And that's something that we 
very proudly see, that this Nation does not know about defeat, on the 
contrary. But it's working to come back to be the leader, to be that 
strong spirit and economy that is an example for all of us.
    And we're working in the same direction. We know that in economic 
terms, things are interactive; as well, as we buy a lot of products, 
services from the United States, we sell a lot of products to the United 
States, being one of the largest trading two economies in the world. And 
through working in that direction, we can also contribute to overcoming 
this situation.
    So, thanks again for giving us this opportunity. And we go back 
knowing that we have a lot of work to do, that we've been doing and that 
we will keep on doing. So, thank you, President.
    President Bush. Thank you, Mr. President.

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Note: The President spoke at 11:45 a.m. in the Colonnade at the White 
House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of these 
remarks.