[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book I)]
[February 3, 2004]
[Pages 177-178]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Following Discussions With Secretary-General Kofi Annan of the United Nations
February 3, 2004

    President Bush. It's my honor to welcome the Secretary-General here 
to the Oval Office. We've just had a really constructive dialog about a 
lot of issues. And the world is changing for the better, and the United 
Nations is playing a vital role in that change. And we talked about Iraq 
and Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, the Middle East, the continent of 
Africa. And I'll let the Secretary-General speak for himself, but I'm 
upbeat and optimistic about the future of the world.
    We've got a lot of work to do in certain areas and, obviously, a lot 
of focus right now on Iraq. And I have always said that the United 
Nations needs to play a vital role, and it's an important role. And we 
have discussed ways to make sure that by working together, the Iraqi 
people can be free and their country stable and prosperous and an 
example of democracy in the Middle East. And the United Nations does 
have a vital role there, and I look forward to working with the 
Secretary-General to achieve that.
    Secretary-General Annan. Thank you very much, Mr. President. As you 
heard the President say, we've had a very good and lengthy meeting on a 
whole host of issues. We realize that last year we were all taken up 
with war, the question of war and peace in Iraq. But we have many other

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issues to work on together, the President and I have agreed, other areas 
which are important that we will be working on.
    On Iraq, I believe that the stability of Iraq is in everyone's 
interest. The U.N. does have a role to play, and that's why, following 
the meeting of 19 January, I have decided to send in a team, a team that 
will go in to try and work with the Iraqis in finding the way forward. 
Everyone agrees that sovereignty should be handed over to Iraq as soon 
as possible. The date of 30 June has been suggested, but there is some 
disagreement as to the mechanism for establishing the provisional 
government. And I hope this team I'm sending in will be able to play a 
role getting the Iraqis to understand that if they could come to some 
consensus and some agreement on how to establish that government, 
they're halfway there.
    We are going to go there to help the Iraqis, to help them establish 
a government that is Iraqi, a government that will work with them to 
assure their future, in terms of political and economic destiny. And the 
team will talk to as many Iraqis as possible and help them steer things 
in the right direction. The CPA--that is the coalition led by Mr. 
Bremer--and the Iraqi Governing Council, when they met me in New York, 
indicated that they would accept the conclusions of the U.N. team, so we 
do have a chance to help break the impasse which exists at the moment 
and move forward.
    On other issues, as the President indicated, we are going to work 
very closely together. We've had some successes, and there are very 
positive developments around the world, which we are also going to try 
and build on and consolidate.
    So thank you very much, Mr. President.
    President Bush. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 11:56 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. In his remarks, Secretary-General Annan referred to L. Paul 
``Jerry'' Bremer III, Presidential Envoy to Iraq. The Office of the 
Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of these 
remarks.