[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 26 (Monday, July 2, 2001)]
[Pages 969-971]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Prior to Discussions With President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa 
and an Exchange With Reporters

June 26, 2001

    President Bush. It is my honor to welcome the President, Mbeki, to 
the Oval Office. It's good to see you again, sir. The last time we 
visited was in the Governor's Mansion in Texas. We had a great 
discussion about our country's relations. I look forward to furthering 
that discussion.
    We have a lot of interests that--to discuss. We have the interest of 
trade and prosperity. My administration has made a commitment to work 
with leaders like President Mbeki on the continent of Africa to provide 
hope for people. And we look forward to a great relationship with you, 
sir. You've provided imaginative, real leadership that a lot of people 
in this Nation admire, and our relationship is only going to grow 
stronger as a result of your visit here.
    So we welcome you to the United States. We welcome the dialog we'll 
have here in

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the Oval Office and then over lunch with the respective delegations.
    Mr. President.
    President Mbeki. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Let me say, 
thank you very much, indeed, Mr. President, for giving us the 
opportunity to see you. I've been looking forward to this, because for 
us, Mr. President, our relations with the United States are very 
important.
    You know the challenges we face in South Africa, Mr. President, and 
the challenges we face on the African Continent. And quite clearly, we 
need your support and involvement in order to solve those problems.
    I'm happy we are able to meet today so we can look, as you said, Mr. 
President, at the matter of the bilateral relations, as well as what we 
might do on the wider scale. And I think that, Mr. President, the moment 
has come for us, as Africans, really to turn the corner, to deal with 
all of these problems of violence and conflict and poverty, disease, and 
so on.
    And I've been very, very pleased--I must say this, Mr. President--
that what we discussed in Austin, Texas, about what might be done, that 
you have kept to that particular route, those present agreements, with 
some understandings, has been very inspiring to us. And I'm sure that 
this visit will help us to get along, as we definitely need to.
    Thank you very much, Mr. President.
    President Bush. Thank you. I'm so glad you're here. Thanks.

HIV/AIDS

    Q. Mr. President, neither of you have mentioned the AIDS scourge 
directly in your opening statements here. How high on the list of 
priorities for discussing the scourge is this on your agenda?
    President Bush. Well, it's an incredibly important part of our 
dialog. The AIDS pandemic in Africa is terrible, and our Nation intends 
to do something about it. As a matter of fact, our Nation is doing 
something about it. We provide more money than any nation in the world 
to fund a strategy to defeat AIDS, and we will continue to work with 
nations that can afford to put money into the trust to do so.
    I was so pleased to see--not only to announce that our Government 
put money into an international trust, but the Gates Foundation, a 
private foundation here in America, contributed $100 million. And 
yesterday Tommy Thompson and Colin Powell went to the U.N. to discuss 
this important issue. And we will discuss it, and we'll discuss it in 
depth, just like we did in Austin, Texas. The President is concerned, as 
am I.
    I discussed it in Europe. I talked to the Europeans. I said, ``We've 
made a downpayment into the international trust to battle AIDS.'' They 
should contribute, I said. And I hope they do. I hope the European Union 
will follow suit. Part of our discussion that night in Sweden was the 
United States taking the lead in the AIDS pandemic, not only in the 
continent of Africa but around the world. And this is a big issue, as 
far as we're concerned. We've got to do something about it.
    Mr. President.
    President Mbeki. Yes, indeed, as the President says, we actually did 
discuss this matter, even then, last year in May, when we met in Texas. 
It clearly is an important matter. That's why I mentioned the matter of 
diseases on the African Continent. AIDS, indeed, is one of those.
    We have to respond in a comprehensive way. One of the matters we'll 
discuss with the President is this African recovery program that we're 
working on. And one of the major priority areas in that African recovery 
program is precisely this area.
    So we certainly will discuss this. And we have to do something, 
because in many instances, these are diseases which are not only caused 
by poverty, some of them, but also cause poverty. So if you're talking 
about an African recovery, you cannot but discuss AIDS and really 
confront it. Malaria, tuberculosis, all sorts of communicable diseases 
are a particular matter of what has to happen--we have to address them.

South African Government's Response to AIDS

    Q. Mr. President, President Mbeki, last week the New York Times 
published an editorial accusing your government of, in its words, 
dooming half a generation of young people to an early, protracted, and 
expensive

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death because of its failure to distribute anti-retrovirals. How do you 
explain the amount of criticism that you're coming in for in the United 
States for what is a perception that you're not doing enough on HIV?
    President Mbeki. Well, I'll--we've said--all I would say to that, 
really, is that people must look at what we're doing in South Africa, 
not their perception of what they think we're doing but what we're doing 
actually in the country. And I don't think on the basics of facts an 
accusation like that can be sustained.

Note: The President spoke at 11:27 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House.