    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book II)]
    [September 29, 2006]
    [Pages 1729-1730]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Following Discussions With President Nursultan
    Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan
    September 29, 2006

        President Bush. Mr. President, thank you for coming. It's been my
    honor to welcome the President of Kazakhstan back to the Oval Office. He
    informed me that the first time he was here was when my dad was the President. And I welcome you back.
        We've just had a very important and interesting discussion. We
    discussed our desire to defeat extremism and our mutual desire to
    support the forces of moderation throughout the world. I thanked the
    President for his contribution to helping a new democracy in Iraq
    survive and thrive and grow.
        I thank very much the President for his concerns about Afghanistan's
    democracy and his willingness to help in Afghanistan. We talked about
    our mutual--our bilateral relations and our mutual desire to--for
    Kazakhstan to join the WTO. We talked about our commitment to
    institutions that will enable liberty to flourish.
        I have watched very carefully the development of this important
    country from one that was in the Soviet sphere to one that now is a free
    nation. And I appreciate your leadership, Mr. President. And I welcome
    you here to the White House, and I'm

    [[Page 1730]]

    looking forward to buying you lunch. [Laughter]
        President Nazarbayev. Thank you very much, Mr. President, for
    hospitality and for warm feelings that I feel in this country and for
    the invitation. This is the third time that I'm in the Oval room since
    the independence of our country and as I am the President of Kazakhstan.
    And Kazakh nation never had experienced statehood before, and I had this
    blessing of becoming the first President of Kazakhstan, and the United
    States was the country that supported our independence and recognized it
    from the very first days. Thus in economics, in energy partnership, in
    policy, in war on terrorism, we've truly become close partners.
        And Kazakhstan today is very proud that we have the highest rate of
    economic growth in the world, and a lot of countries learn from the
    experience of Kazakhstan today. But that wouldn't be possible if Taliban
    would not be defeated in Afghanistan. And that war was led by United
    States. And nobody in central Asia will feel safe and peace if we'd be
    surrounded by countries populated with terrorist people, and if we'd be
    surrounded by countries where some people crave to put their hands on
    the nuclear weapons, which Kazakhstan renounced in the past voluntarily,
    and thus contributed significantly to global security.
        The United States is the major investor, foreign investor into
    Kazakhstan. One-third of all foreign investments in Kazakhstan are from
    United States. And after this meeting, we'll publish the joint
    declaration, and you will--in that declaration, you will read about the
    details and what we have discussed and what we have achieved during
    these negotiations.
        And I'm here today to tell once again that Kazakhstan is a friend of
    the United States because the United States is the country that
    guaranteed stability and protection of Kazakhstan when Kazakhstan
    renounced nuclear weapons. And we will continue to work in all fields of
    our cooperation that exist today.
        President Bush. Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:51 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. President Nazarbayev spoke in Russian, and his remarks were
    translated by an interpreter.