[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.