[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 7 (Monday, February 20, 2006)]
[Pages 234-235]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following Discussions With United Nations Secretary-General Kofi 
Annan

February 13, 2006

    President Bush. Mr. Secretary-General, thank you. As usual, we had a 
very constructive dialog. I always enjoy visiting with the Secretary-
General. It gives us a chance to talk about our common interests and our 
desire for peace and liberty around the world.
    We had a good discussion on Sudan, with particular emphasis on 
Darfur. I told the Secretary-General that Mrs. Garang was in to see me 
the other day and that we had a long discussion--she and I had a long 
discussion not only about the Darfur region but about implementing the 
north-south accords. And I appreciate the Secretary's leadership on that 
issue.
    We talked about the broader Middle East. And there's a lot to talk 
about. I am very optimistic, however, that democracy and liberty will 
prevail. And so I want to thank you for your interest and leadership on 
those particular issues.
    We talked about U.N. reform, structural reform, management reform, 
as well as the reform of the Human Rights Commission. I was most 
interested in the Secretary-General's thoughts. I appreciate very much 
his leading on these issues, and we'll continue to work closely through 
Secretary Bolton--Ambassador Bolton with the Security Council and the 
United Nations.
    And so, Mr. Secretary-General, thanks for coming. It's always a 
pleasure to welcome you here to the Oval Office. And the floor is yours.
    Secretary-General Annan. Thank you very much, Mr. President. I also 
enjoy our periodic exchanges, and I'm very happy that we have agreed to 
work together on the Darfur issue, working with other governments from 
Europe, from Asia, and other regions, to ensure that we do have an 
effective security presence on the ground to protect the IDPs and ensure 
that humanitarian workers have access to those in need. And of course, 
this is an issue where all governments have to play their role.
    On security--on the U.N. reform and Human Rights Council, I think 
the President and I agree that we need to reform the Human Rights 
Council, and it should be done as soon as possible. The President of the 
General Assembly, Jan Eliasson, is working very hard to ensure that we 
will have that done by this month, and that when the Human Rights 
Commission meets in Geneva, it will be in the process of transformation; 
it will not be business as usual. And I also thanked the President for 
all the support he's given us on U.N. reform, on the broader U.N. 
reform. And there are quite a lot of things that we're going to do.
    We also discussed the Middle East and the Hamas elections and the 
need for transformation of Hamas into a political party along the lines 
that the Quartet had discussed. And I think there is an opportunity

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here for Hamas to transform itself into a political party and work with 
the international community and the Israeli Government.
    We also touched on the issue of the nuclear issue in--of Iran. And 
here again, I hope between now and the time the Atomic Agency issues its 
next report, there will be indications and steps from the Iranian side 
to indicate that negotiations are not dead and that both sides can come 
back to the table and find a way out of this crisis. We need to be able 
to resolve it, and I hope there will be no steps taken to escalate the 
situation.
    Thank you very much.
    President Bush. I appreciate you. Good job. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 2:06 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Rebecca Garang, Minister of 
Transportation, Roads, and Bridges, Government of Southern Sudan; and 
Ambassador John R. Bolton, U.S. Representative to the United Nations.