[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 39 (Monday, September 29, 2003)]
[Pages 1262-1263]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following Discussions With Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of 
Germany and an Exchange With Reporters in New York City

September 24, 2003

    President Bush. Listen, thank you all for coming. Gerhard and I just 
had a very good meeting. The first thing I told him, I said, ``Look, 
we've had differences, and they're over, and we're going to work 
together.'' And I believe when Germany and America works together, we 
can accomplish a lot of positive things. We're both committed to 
freedom. We're both committed to peace. We're both committed to the 
prosperity of our people. And I reaffirmed to Gerhard that America and 
German relations are very important to this administration. I have said 
so repeatedly. I said so in the Bundestag, and I reiterated it today 
with the Chancellor.

    We will work together in Afghanistan. I appreciate his efforts to 
help with a--help Iraq grow to be a peaceful and stable and democratic 
country. We talked about the Middle East. We talked about proliferation 
concerns. In short, we talked about the things we can do together to 
benefit mankind, and I'm really happy we had the meeting today.
    Thank you, sir.
    Chancellor Schroeder. I can only comment and very much confirm what 
the President has just said. We addressed a whole range of international 
topics, but we didn't just exclusively talk about international affairs. 
We also addressed the economic situation, because we feel that our 
problems, when it comes to that, are similar indeed. Both of our 
economies are by now so closely intertwined that it really makes sense 
to think about them conjointly.
    I cannot conceal that I was very pleased indeed that the President 
did appreciate the contribution Germany is making within Afghanistan. We 
very much are trying to make this a sustainable contribution, and I 
think our people on the ground are doing a good job. And therefore, I 
have to say I'm proud of the work they're doing for us and for us 
together.
    We then proceeded to actually talk about the situation in Iraq, and 
indeed, we very much feel that the differences that have been, have been 
left behind and put aside by now. We are both agreed that we want to 
look into the future together. And I would like to reiterate the fact 
that Germany has a very strong, in fact a vested interest, in a stable 
and very democratic Iraq and to development to that effect. It is very 
important not just for Iraq as such but for the whole of the region, for 
Germany and, therefore, also for Europe.
    We certainly have emphasized the fact, and I have once more said 
this to the President myself, how very much we would like to come in and 
help with the resources that we do have. We could very much envisage 
that we will assist in providing training for security staff, be it 
police functions or be it some form of military function. We do have the 
capacities for that available in Germany, and we would very much like to 
put them to that purpose.
    President Bush. Thank you, sir.

[[Page 1263]]

President's U.N. Address

    Q. Mr. President, what about the response to your speech yesterday?

    President Bush. I can only judge by your reaction to it. [Laughter]


Note: The President spoke at 9:35 a.m. at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The 
Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language 
transcript of these remarks.