[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 19 (Monday, May 14, 2001)]
[Pages 735-736]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following Discussions With President Olusegun Obasanjo of 
Nigeria

May 11, 2001

    President Bush. We just concluded a series of discussions, and a 
good lunch, with the delegation from Nigeria. The President and I also 
had some private time to visit about issues of mutual concern. I am--we 
discussed issues such as trade, the environment.
    Obviously, we discussed health issues that relate to the continent 
of Africa. We are very supportive of the President's initiatives to 
provide peacekeepers in troubled countries on the African continent.
    As many Americans may know--that we are in the process of helping 
provide technical assistance to Nigerian troops so that they are better 
able to keep those peace missions. We talked about the program. We've 
completed two phases of the training. We're in the process of completing 
the third phase of an agreed-upon training program.
    The short of it is that Nigeria is a friend of America, and the 
President is a friend of mine. It has been my honor to welcome him here. 
I look forward to working with him in the future.
    Mr. President.
    President Obasanjo. Thank you very much, sir. I want to take this 
opportunity to thank President Bush for the invitation to visit the 
United States of America at this particular time and to be able to 
establish our relationship and, at the same time, be able to cover the 
important areas, ground--of important areas of bilateral relations of 
areas of concern in our subregion of west Africa, areas of concern in 
Africa, particularly areas of--that are ravaged by war and conflict, 
such as Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, and so 
on.
    And what we are doing in these areas, we briefed the President. And 
of course, we have the support of the Government of the United States in 
our peacekeeping and conflict resolution efforts in Africa.
    We discussed other issues that are of importance to us. We discussed 
the MAP, the Millennium African Plan, which initially was originated by 
President Thabo Mbeki, President Bouteflika, and myself, and which now 
has been extended to take on Egypt--President Mubarak, and President 
Wade of Senegal.
    We also look at issues that have been on the table before and that 
we are working together on. For instance, how do we prepare our troops 
for these increasing peacekeeping roles in Africa, and the systems that 
we have got in the past from the U.S. Government, for which we are very 
grateful and which we believe will continue, to really make our troops 
to be able to perform adequately in peacekeeping roles?

[[Page 736]]

    We, of course, reiterated the friendship and the cordiality between 
Nigeria and the United States. And of course, I am happy to be able to 
make a friend of President Bush, just as you heard President Bush had 
made a friend of me. I now can feel that if there is any need to call on 
President Bush, he knows what I look like. [Laughter] I am not a no-
person to him. He knows how I smile. He may even be feeling how I look 
on telephone. [Laughter]
    And that is one important thing, that we made contact. We 
established a relationship, and we are friends.
    Thank you very much.
    President Bush. Mr. President, thank you very much. It's an honor 
for you to be here.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 1:01 p.m. at the South Portico at the White 
House. President Obasanjo referred to President Thabo Mbeki of South 
Africa; President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria; President Hosni 
Mubarak of Egypt; and President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal.