[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 28 (Monday, July 14, 2003)]
[Pages 897-900]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following Discussions With President Festus Gontebanye Mogae of 
Botswana and an Exchange With Reporters in Gaborone, Botswana

July 10, 2003

    President Mogae. Ladies and gentlemen of the press, honorable 
Ministers, you are probably wondering what we have been talking between 
the President and I. And I was just thanking him for, first of all, 
visiting us,

[[Page 898]]

but above all, for the generous assistance we have been receiving.
    As you know, we are the country in southern Africa that is most 
seriously affected by HIV/AIDS, and we are receiving generous assistance 
from the United States Government, who are helping us with the testing 
and counseling centers and in which we are spending about $8 million 
U.S. a year, which is about 40 million pula in our own currency.
    They have also responded to a request for human resources 
assistance, and they have restored the Peace Corps program. We are 
collaborating with our own private sector, the foundations in the United 
States--the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Merck Corporation 
Foundation--for providing us with antiretrovirals and also with 
assistance for mounting of our prevention campaign. That program is 
going very well.
    I mention that--it is the most important--but also we are very 
grateful for AGOA, on behalf of ourselves, on behalf of Africa as a 
whole, because most African countries have benefited by AGOA. I was 
telling the President that in my view, AGOA is perhaps the most 
significant thing that United States has done for sub-Saharan Africa in 
recent decades.
    As some of us--some of you will know, initially Namibia and us--and 
Botswana were left out of AGOA I, as a result of the level of our--
[inaudible]--and we have since been included under AGOA II. And so the 
only issue is that the dispensation, that concession should be 
maintained, therefore, as long as AGOA remains, because like the 
President, we believe in trade. Of course, we believe in aid too--
[laughter]--so both aid and trade and cooperation.
    So that's what we have been talking about--of course, other things. 
But of course, there are a whole range of issues on which we consulted, 
reaching across the region, performance of our economy but the region of 
the south--of southern Africa and then sub-Saharan Africa as a whole.
    President Bush. Mr. President, thanks. Listen, we're so honored that 
you invited us here. We're thrilled to be here. You have been a very 
strong leader. First, I want to commend you for your leadership. I 
appreciate your commitment to democracy and freedom, to rule of law and 
transparency. I want to congratulate you for serving your country so 
very well.
    We did talk a lot of issues. We talked about the regional issues. We 
talked about the war on terror. We've got a great friend in the war on 
terror. We both understand that we must work together to share 
intelligence, to cut off money, to forever deny terrorists a chance to 
plot and plan and hurt those of us who love freedom.
    I talked--spent some time on the HIV/AIDS issue. Botswana, as a 
result of the President's leadership, has really been on the forefront 
of dealing with this serious problem by, first and foremost, admitting 
that there is a problem and then by working to put a strategy in place 
to prevent and treat and to provide help for those who suffer.
    And Mr. President, the United States of America stands squarely with 
you----
    President Mogae. Thank you.
    President Bush. ----with you and your Health Minister and your 
administration to help put together a strategy that will save lives.
    We talked about the shortage of food in parts of Africa. We had a 
wide-ranging discussion. And President Mogae is a strong, visionary 
leader who I'm proud to call friend.
    So thank you, Mr. President, for your hospitality.
    We'll be glad to answer a couple of questions. If you'd like to call 
on somebody from your press corps first----
    President Mogae. Does anyone want to ask----
    President Bush. That's not the way we do it in--[laughter].

Zimbabwe

    Q. To the U.S. President, yesterday when you met President Mbeki of 
South Africa, the MDC leader in Zimbabwe was not very excited about 
that. He feels you were misled. What are your views on that? Did you 
have any plans for Zimbabwe, and did you shelve them because of what you 
heard yesterday, or are you still going to go ahead with them?
    President Bush. Well, thank you very much. I made it very clear 
publicly, the position of this administration, and that is that we 
expect there to be democracy in

[[Page 899]]

Zimbabwe in order for the people of that country to advance. We did 
speak about Zimbabwe here. I explained why the Secretary of State and 
myself have been very outspoken on the subject. And we had a frank 
discussion with President Mbeki on Zimbabwe as well.
    It is--it's a shame that that economy has gotten so weak and soft--
it's a shame for Botswana; it's a shame for southern Africa--and that 
the weakness in the economy is directly attributable to bad governance. 
And therefore, we will continue to speak out for democracy in Zimbabwe.
    Ryan of Bloomberg [Ryan Donmoyer, Bloomberg News]. There he is. Hi, 
Ryan. How are you?

Agricultural Subsidies

    Q. Mr. President, in Evian you and the Europeans talked about maybe 
reducing agricultural subsidies. Is this something that has come up in 
your meeting today? And what assurances can you give to your African 
counterparts that this is something that the U.S. is serious about?
    President Bush. Yes, that's a very good question. Absolutely, the 
subject of agricultural subsidies came up here today; it came up 
yesterday. I suspect--and it came up in Senegal. It will come up in 
every country we come to, because African leaders are worried that 
subsidies, agricultural subsidies, are undermining their capacity to 
become self-sufficient in food. That's part of the problem.
    The other part of the problem is the lack of technological 
development in agriculture. And we talked about the need for genetically 
modified crops throughout the continent of Africa.
    I told them the reality of the situation, that we have proposed a 
very strong reduction in agricultural subsidies. However, in order to 
make that come to be, there needs to be reciprocation from Europe and 
Japan in order to make the policy effective. We're committed to a world 
that trades in freedom, and we will work toward that through the Doha 
Round of the World Trade Organization.

African Growth and Opportunity Act

    Q. To President Festus Mogae----
    President Mogae. Yes, yes. Okay.
    President Bush. This is a bad precedent, where the same person gets 
to ask two questions. [Laughter]
    Q. There was a sentiment that Your Honor was going to ask the U.S. 
President if AGOA, the lifespan of AGOA, could be extended. Was that 
done today?
    President Mogae. You bet. [Laughter]
    President Bush. In plain English.
    President Mogae. Yes.
    Q. And for how long?
    President Bush. Well, I've asked Congress to extend AGOA to '08, 
2008. And the President, of course, said, ``Well, fine, if that 
extension takes place, make sure we're a part of it.'' And he made his 
case very explicitly. Everybody in the delegation heard him clearly. And 
my response was, ``We will work closely with you to see if that can't 
happen.''
    Tamara [Tamara Lipper], Newsweek.

Iraq/HIV/AIDS Initiative

    Q. Thank you, Mr. President. I'm going to try for two questions as 
well.
    President Bush. No, no, please don't do that. It may be the last 
question you get if you try. [Laughter] Go ahead.
    Q. On this trip you've highlighted a lot of different success 
stories in Africa, the countries that have been successful in fighting 
AIDS or on trade. What do you hope Americans who are watching you take 
from your trip here?
    And then secondly, on Iraq, given the sort of day-to-day challenges 
facing American soldiers there, how important--or is it increasingly 
important to find Saddam Hussein, and any updates on a hunt for him to 
really convince people he might be gone for good?
    President Bush. Well, let me start with Iraq. Having talked to Jerry 
Bremer, the man in charge of the civilian operations there, he believes 
that the vast majority of Iraqi citizens are thrilled that Saddam 
Hussein is no longer in power. Secondly, there's no question we've got a 
security issue in Iraq, and we're just going to have to deal with person 
by person. We're going to have to remain tough.
    Now, part of the issue that we've got to make clear is that any 
terrorist acts on infrastructure by former Ba'athists, for example,

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really are attacks on the Iraqi people. And therefore, the more involved 
the Iraqi citizens become in securing their own infrastructure and the 
more involved Iraqi citizens are in the transitional government, the 
more likely it is the average citizen will understand that once again 
the apologists for Saddam Hussein are bringing misery on their country.
    The world will see eventually as freedom spreads that--what Saddam 
Hussein did to the mentality of the Iraqi people. I mean, we've 
discovered torture chambers where people, citizens, were tortured just 
based upon their beliefs. We've discovered mass graves, graves for not 
only men and women but graves for children. We discovered a prison for 
children--all aimed at--for Saddam Hussein to intimidate the people of 
Iraq. And slowly but surely, the people of Iraq are learning the 
responsibility that comes with being a free society.
    We haven't been there long, I mean, relatively speaking. We've been 
there for 90 to 100 days--I don't have the exact number. But I will tell 
you, it's going to take more than 90 to 100 days for people to recognize 
the great joys of freedom and the responsibilities that come with 
freedom. We're making steady progress. A free Iraq will mean a peaceful 
world. And it's very important for us to stay the course, and we will 
stay the course.
    The first question was about what I want Americans to know. The 
first thing I wanted the leadership in Africa to know is the American 
people care deeply about the pandemic that sweeps across this continent, 
the pandemic of HIV/AIDS, that we're not only a powerful nation, we're 
also a compassionate nation.
    You know, I laid out a very strong initiative on helping countries 
in the continent of Africa deal with AIDS. It's a--to me, it's an 
expression of the great, good heart of the American people. It doesn't 
matter what political party or what the ideology of the American 
citizen, the average citizen cares deeply about the fact that people are 
dying in record numbers because of HIV/AIDS. We cry for the orphan. We 
care for the mom who is alone. We are concerned about the plight and, 
therefore, will respond as generously as we can.
    That's really the story that I want the people of Africa to hear. 
And I want the people of America to know that I'm willing to take that 
story to this continent and talk about the goodness of our country. And 
I believe we'll be successful, when it's all said and done, of making 
our intentions well-known.
    Listen, thank you all.

Note: The President spoke at approximately 11:43 a.m. at the Gaborone 
International Convention Centre. In his remarks, he referred to Minister 
of Health Joy Phumaphi of Botswana; President Thabo Mbeki of South 
Africa; L. Paul Bremer III, Presidential Envoy to Iraq; and former 
President Saddam Hussein of Iraq. A tape was not available for 
verification of the content of these remarks.