    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book II)]
    [September 24, 2003]
    [Pages 1196-1197]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Following Discussions With Chancellor Gerhard
    Schroeder of Germany and an Exchange With
    Reporters in New York City
    September 24, 2003

        President Bush. Listen, thank you all for coming. Gerhard and I just
    had a very good meeting. The first thing I told him, I said, ``Look,
    we've had differences, and they're over, and we're going to work
    together.'' And I believe when Germany and America works together, we
    can accomplish a lot of positive things. We're both committed to
    freedom. We're both committed to peace. We're both committed to the
    prosperity of our people. And I reaffirmed to Gerhard that America and
    German relations are very important to this administration. I have said
    so repeatedly. I said so in the Bundestag, and I reiterated it today
    with the Chancellor.
        We will work together in Afghanistan. I appreciate his efforts to
    help with a--help Iraq grow to be a peaceful and stable and democratic
    country. We talked about the Middle East. We talked about proliferation
    concerns. In short, we talked about the things we can do together to
    benefit mankind, and I'm really happy we had the meeting today.
        Thank you, sir.
        Chancellor Schroeder. I can only comment and very much confirm what
    the President has just said. We addressed a whole range of international
    topics, but we didn't just exclusively talk about international affairs.
    We also addressed the economic situation, because we feel that our
    problems, when it comes to that, are similar indeed. Both of our
    economies are by now so closely intertwined that it really makes sense
    to think about them conjointly.

    [[Page 1197]]

        I cannot conceal that I was very pleased indeed that the President
    did appreciate the contribution Germany is making within Afghanistan. We
    very much are trying to make this a sustainable contribution, and I
    think our people on the ground are doing a good job. And therefore, I
    have to say I'm proud of the work they're doing for us and for us
    together.
        We then proceeded to actually talk about the situation in Iraq, and
    indeed, we very much feel that the differences that have been, have been
    left behind and put aside by now. We are both agreed that we want to
    look into the future together. And I would like to reiterate the fact
    that Germany has a very strong, in fact a vested interest, in a stable
    and very democratic Iraq and to development to that effect. It is very
    important not just for Iraq as such but for the whole of the region, for
    Germany and, therefore, also for Europe.
        We certainly have emphasized the fact, and I have once more said
    this to the President myself, how very much we would like to come in and
    help with the resources that we do have. We could very much envisage
    that we will assist in providing training for security staff, be it
    police functions or be it some form of military function. We do have the
    capacities for that available in Germany, and we would very much like to
    put them to that purpose.
        President Bush. Thank you, sir.

    President's U.N. Address

        Q. Mr. President, what about the response to your speech yesterday?
        President Bush. I can only judge by your reaction to it. [Laughter]

    Note: The President spoke at 9:35 a.m. at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. A
    tape was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.