    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book II)]
    [September 29, 2008]
    [Pages 1257-1258]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Following a Meeting With President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine
    September 29, 2008

        President Bush. I was disappointed in the vote with the United
    States Congress on the economic rescue plan. We put forth a plan that
    was big because we got a big problem. I'm going to be talking to my
    economic advisers after my meeting here with the President, and we'll be
    working with Members of Congress--leaders of Congress on the way
    forward. Our strategyis to continue to address this situation--economic
    situation head on. And we'll be working to develop a strategy that will
    enable us to continue to move forward.
        Mr. President, welcome. I welcome you here to the Oval Office. I
    admire your steadfast support for democratic values and principles. A
    lot of Americans have watched with amazement how your country became

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    a democracy. We strongly support your democracy. We look forward to
    working with you to strengthen that democracy.
        You and I just had a good discussion about a variety of issues. We
    discussed, you know, the NATO and the membership application process. We
    discussed energy independence. We discussed ways that we can work
    together to bring stability and peace to parts of the world. And I thank
    you for joining us here in Washington in the Oval Office, and I send my
    respects to the people of Ukraine.
        President Yushchenko. First of all, Mr. President, I would like to
    thank for the atmosphere that our negotiations were held in. We had our
    conversation in a very constructive manner. We touched upon the range of
    issues, starting from our bilateral relations and the implementation of
    U.S.-Ukraine action plan. And we consider this roadmap as being
    implemented in a successful way. A lot of attention was paid to security
    component and security itself, and a special attention was paid towards
    Ukraine integration into European and Euro-Atlantic structures.
        We raised the issue of energy cooperation, which is a very urgent
    issue for us. And we believe that we've done excellent job on the
    adaptation of American nuclear fuel for our nuclear power units, and we
    intend to continue that.
        We also discussed the domestic political situation in Ukraine, which
    in my opinion is far away from being tragic, and nondramatic. Ukraine
    has enough democratic resource and tools to give sufficient response to
    any crisis that may occur in the Ukrainian Parliament. And this is
    probably where the Ukrainian strength and optimism is.
        I also asked Mr. President to delegate the high-ranking delegation
    from the United States of America to participate in the commemorating
    events of the great famine in Ukraine of 1932 and 1933. The
    commemoration day will be on November the 22d, and this will be the
    commemoration of the biggest humanitarian catastrophe in our country.
    And we need to do everything for that issue to be included in the UNGA
    agenda.
        President Bush. Thank you, sir.
        President Yushchenko. Thank you.
        President Bush. You're welcome.

    Note: The President spoke at 3:25 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. President Yushchenko spoke in Ukrainian, and his remarks were
    translated by an interpreter.