    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book I)]
    [June 6, 2007]
    [Pages 701-702]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Following Discussions With Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan in Heiligendamm
    June 6, 2007

        President Bush. It's good to be with a friend, Shinzo Abe. We
    recently met at Camp David, and now we have a--and we were on the phone
    since then, and now we have a chance to further our discussions.
        We talked about a lot of subjects; particularly, we talked about
    North Korea. There is a common message here, and that is, we expect the
    North Koreans to honor agreements. And it's very important for the
    Japanese people to know that I strongly

    [[Page 702]]

    support Shinzo Abe's desire to deal with this very important issue of--
    the abduction issue.
        Likewise, we had an extensive discussion about energy and climate
    change. I reminded the Prime Minister that his great country and great
    economy is going to lead the way when it comes--along with the United
    States, in leading the way coming to develop technologies that will
    enable us to be--change our energy habits and, at the same time, be good
    stewards of the environment. And we discussed ways to develop a
    framework that has the flexibility and, at the same time, the goals, so
    we can encourage the world to move in that direction.
        It's good to be with a friend.
        Prime Minister Abe. This is the sixth time that I'm having
    discussions with George, and as we always do, this time we were able to
    have a very frank exchange of view on many things. On North Korea,
    unfortunately, the North Koreans have not done anything to implement the
    initial actions. And also on the issue of abduction, they have not taken
    any sincere actions to resolve that issue. So we agreed that the G-8
    leaders need to send a strong message to North Korea on these issues.
    And also on the abduction issue, I explained the Japanese position to
    George once again, and I was able to gain his understanding on this
    issue, as he has always shown understanding.
        On climate change, I explained the Japanese proposal to the
    President, and we agreed that Japan and the United States would be
    working together to--for the creation of an effective framework which is
    flexible, and that we would be cooperating to achieve that end in the
    future.
        So we reconfirmed the fact that the alliance we have between Japan
    and the United States in dealing with issues like North Korea and
    climate change is truly an alliance for Asia and an alliance for the
    entire world, for that matter.
        President Bush. Thank you, sir. Thank you all very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 3:29 p.m. at the Kempinski Grand Hotel
    Heiligendamm. Prime Minister Abe spoke in Japanese, and his remarks were
    translated by an interpreter.