[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book II)]
[September 23, 2008]
[Pages 1233-1234]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Following a Meeting With President Yoweri Kaguta 
Museveni of Uganda in New York City
September 23, 2008

    President Bush. I just had a very productive meeting with President 
Museveni of Uganda. He is--he's been a very strong leader on a number of 
fronts.
    First, he's been very helpful in solving regional conflicts on the 
continent of Africa, and I want to thank you for your leadership.
    Secondly, you gave me great confidence when it came to realizing the 
proper strategy in dealing with HIV/AIDS. Because of the success in 
Uganda, that showed the rest of the continent and the rest of the world 
how strong leadership and a good strategy can actually save lives in a 
very substantial way. The ABC program was implemented in your country; 
infection rate went from a lot to, you know, a much smaller number.
    I also want to thank you very much for implementing the Malaria 
Initiative. There's been over 200,000 [2.2 million]* bed nets 
distributed in your country, Mr. President, and that's because of the 
leadership of you and the organization of your Government.
    And so I thank you for coming by for what has been a very productive 
meeting.
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    *White House correction.
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    President Museveni. Thank you, sir. Well, I thank President Bush for 
the support he has given Uganda through the AIDS fund, for the 
development contribution. That's how our people are able to get free 
ARVs, antiretrovirals. Many people have access to these drugs now. In 
fact, almost all the people that need to have them, have access to the 
drugs, do so now in the case of Uganda.
    You should know that not everybody who has got AIDS needs to start 
on the ARVs; there's a certain threshold of resistance below which he 
should be able to access the drugs. And because of the money President 
Bush has provided, and also the money from the Global Fund, all our 
people who need to access ARVs do so now.
    Then there's also the Millennium Challenge Account, although I don't 
fully access that money, but we have got a part of it. And that one is 
also very helpful.
    Then there's the general support through the World Bank and other 
bilateral programs like USAID, supporting infrastructure. Because what 
we need in Africa is to lower the cost of doing business in Africa 
through investing in infrastructure and energy and so on, so that we can 
be able to attract FDI, foreign direct investment.

[[Page 1234]]

This is really the way forward. And President Bush has been tremendous 
on that. He has actually been a very good friend of Africa, and we 
salute him our gratitude.
    I thank you very much.
    President Bush. Thank you, sir.

Note: The President spoke at 2:57 p.m. at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.