    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
    [June 8, 2006]
    [Pages 1104-1105]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Following Discussions With President Michelle Bachelet
    Jeria of Chile
    June 8, 2006

        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

    [[Page 1105]]

    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 that 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. And 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.

    [At this point, President Bachelet spoke in Spanish, and no translation
    was provided.]

        President Bachelet. 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 have been--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 the issues as energy innovation, education,
    health, and so on.
        It's for me an honor to be here. And as I live 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
    difference, with different cultures, tradition, 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.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:50 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House.