    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book I)]
    [January 15, 2008]
    [Pages 89-90]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Prior to a Discussion With Saudi Entrepreneurs in Riyadh
    January 15, 2008

        I'm George W. Bush, President of the United States. [Laughter] Thank
    you all for joining us. Ambassador, thanks
    for setting this up. It's important for the President to hear thoughts,
    hopes, dreams, aspirations, concerns from folks that are out making a
    living. And I really appreciate you taking time out of your day to come
    and visit with me. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
        One thing is for certain: The United States benefits when people
    come to my country. And one of my concerns was, after September the
    11th, that our visa policy, particularly for Saudis, was tightened to
    the point where we missed opportunity to show young and old alike what
    our country is really about. I love the fact that some of you were
    educated in America. I think you'll find you got a good education there,
    but more importantly, Americans get to see you, and you get to see them.
    And the best way to achieve better understanding in the world is for
    folks just to get together and get to understand that we share the same
    God, we share the same aspirations for children and for our futures.
        And so this is an important visit for me. I'm thrilled to be in the
    Kingdom. I have--I've got very close relations with His Majesty. We had a good visit last
    night on a variety of subjects. We talked about Palestinian peace; we
    talked about the security issues of the region. I talked to the
    Ambassador and will again talk to His Majesty tonight about the fact
    that oil prices are very high, which is tough on our economy, and that I
    would hope, as OPEC considers different production levels, that they
    understand that if their--one of their biggest consumer's economy
    suffers, it will mean less purchases, less oil and gas sold.

    [[Page 90]]

        And so we've got a lot of things to talk about, but I want to assure
    you it's from the spirit of friendship. And the hospitality last night
    was warm, and the conversation was excellent, just like this one is
    going to be.
        So I want to thank you for coming. I appreciate your time.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:51 p.m. at the U.S. Embassy. In his
    remarks, he referred to U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ford M. Fraker;
    and King Abdallah bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia.