    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book II)]
    [December 8, 2006]
    [Pages 2167-2168]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Following a Meeting With President Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki of South Africa
    December 8, 2006

        President Bush. It's been my honor to welcome a man for whom I have
    a great deal of respect, and that is the President of South Africa,
    President Mbeki, here back to the Oval Office. I so very much appreciate
    the time you've given and the great discussion we just had.
        We talked about a wide range of subjects. We talked about Darfur and
    the need for South Africa and the United States and other nations to
    work with the Sudanese Government to enable a peacekeeping force into
    that country to facilitate aid and save lives. And I expressed my
    concerns about the situation with the President. He shares my concerns
    that the situation is dire. And now is the time for action. And I
    appreciate your thoughts, Mr. President.
        We talked about, interestingly enough, the Darfur [Doha]* round. The
    President is concerned about whether or not the World Trade Organization
    round will go forward. He recognizes, like I recognize, that trade will
    lift more people out of poverty than any other mechanism. And I told the
    President, I am committed to the Darfur [Doha]* round. I believe in
    trade, and I believe in the necessity of trade. And so we'll work to see
    if we can't get that issue solved.
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        *White House correction.
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        We talked about a lot of issues. We talked about Iran; we talked
    about the Middle East; we talked about our bilateral relations and his
    Government's commitment to fighting HIV/AIDS and our willingness to
    provide over $600 million to the folks in South Africa to help deal with
    this terrible pandemic.
        I would call our relations strong and good and necessary. And Mr.
    President, welcome back, and the floor is yours.
        President Mbeki. Thank you very much, President. Well, I was very
    glad, indeed, that we had this opportunity to meet with the President to
    discuss precisely these matters that he has indicated. Of course of
    immediate importance to us is the support we get from the President and
    the U.S. Government with regard to the resolution of these African
    conflicts.
        And indeed, we are, all of us, keenly interested that we must
    increase the troops deployed in Darfur, to address these issues that the
    President mentioned, and hopefully, the Security Council will move
    quickly on that to do that larger deployment of troops. It's very
    urgent, very necessary, and we will absolutely do everything to make
    sure that, from the African side, we remove any obstacles that might be
    to such bigger deployment in Darfur. It's very necessary.

    [[Page 2168]]

        Because also I mentioned, I discussed with the President the impact
    of the situation in Darfur on the neighboring countries, particularly
    Chad and the Central African Republic. But also the difficult situation
    in Somalia----
        President Bush. Yes, sir.
        President Mbeki. ----and the President, together, we are very keen
    that, indeed, something must move there. This was a failed state. It's
    necessary to support transitional government, to restoring a government,
    and to reunify the country and so on. It's an important thing because
    the problem--one of the big problems is that as it is, it provides a
    base for terrorists--find safe haven there and then can spread out to
    the rest of the continent. It's something that is of shared concern.
        But again, of course, I was very, very reassured when the President
    said he is committed to the success of the WTO negotiations. It's a very
    important part, in terms of addressing the agenda of the poor of the
    world. They need these market-access issues addressed, and so on. I was
    very, very pleased, indeed, that President said indeed we must work to
    make sure that WTO negotiating process succeeds.
        We--finally, President, I'd like to say I was very pleased that,
    indeed, you said we shall need to work even--together even more
    intensely than we have in the past, because with effect from the 1st of
    January, South Africa, of course, joins the Security Council as a
    nonpermanent member. As I'm saying, I was very glad that the President
    said that's going to mean we'll need better interaction so that we could
    work together, indeed, to help to find solutions to all these wide range
    of issues that are on the agenda of the Security Council.
        But thank you very much, Mr. President.
        President Bush. Proud you're back. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:12 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House.