[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 11 (Monday, March 20, 2006)]
[Pages 456-457]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following Discussions With Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda of 
Slovakia

March 13, 2006

    President Bush. Mr. Prime Minister, welcome. Thank you for coming. I 
always enjoy being with you because you're an optimistic, upbeat 
believer in the people of your country and the possibilities to work 
together to achieve peace. And so thanks for coming.
    I admire the job you have done, and I admire the record that you 
have produced. A lot of times in politics, people are pretty good 
talkers, but they don't follow through. You have followed through.
    We discussed a lot of issues. I thank the Prime Minister for his 
contributions to helping young democracies succeed, democracies

[[Page 457]]

in Afghanistan and Iraq. And I want to thank you for that.
    We discussed the importance for transatlantic ties between the 
United States and not only Slovakia but also between the United States 
and Europe. And I assured him that those transatlantic ties are an 
important part of our policies here.
    We talked about two issues that I found--that I know are important. 
One, of course, is the visa issue. The Prime Minister made it very clear 
that he expects there to be some progress on the visa issue, that he's--
he represents the good people of Slovakia when he says to me that there 
needs to be a constant renewal of the process to make sure that it is 
fair. And I appreciate--I listened very carefully to my friend and can 
assure the people of Slovakia that we are working together to make the 
visa policy work better.
    Secondly, he talked about the knowledge-based economy that he 
envisioned for his country. And I thought, first of all, it's very wise 
to--he recognizes the world and the challenges of the world and knows 
full well that as people gain knowledge, a country is going to end up 
being more competitive in the 21st century.
    And so I--we strategized about ways to help Slovakia and the United 
States benefit from exchanges, and particularly student exchanges, so 
that knowledge becomes a paramount part of our future.
    And so, Mr. Prime Minister, thanks for your vision. And I also feel 
sorry for the fact that you broke your leg. This guy's a good runner. 
And so now I feel comfortable challenging you to a race. [Laughter] Had 
you been healthy, I wouldn't even had gotten on the same track with you. 
But I wish you a speedy recovery, and thanks again for coming to the 
United States.
    Prime Minister Dzurinda. Thank you, Mr. President. My leg is broken, 
but my heart is happy. [Laughter] My heart is happy because we are 
friends and strong allies, America and Slovakia, America and the 
European Union. I am happy being here because we are good friends. 
President Bush visited us a year ago; he visited President of Russia, 
Mr. Putin, in Bratislava, and we remember this fantastic stay of 
President Bush in Slovakia.
    We are good friends, and we share the responsibility for development 
in the world. I highly appreciate the leadership of President Bush in 
solving of global issues, the most hot and most complicated issues in 
the world. And I talked to President Bush that transatlantic cooperation 
is and must stay the basis of our security. This is something like axis 
of stability, prosperity, and the future of both countries, but also the 
future of the democratic world.
    As President Bush has already mentioned, we have some bilateral 
issues. I appreciate especially his State of Union, during which he 
announced a new program how to educate people, young generation. We want 
to do the same. We want to find a new way, thanks to which it would be 
possible to cooperate with the United States also in the area of science 
research and development, innovation, education. And I believe that we 
will discover these new ways.
    Of course we spoke many issues of foreign policy, as usually. And I 
can only tell that our view is the same, and we will continue in this 
cooperation to advance freedom and democracy in the world. Mr. 
President, thank you very, very much for being such a good leader.
    President Bush. Thank you, sir.

Note: The President spoke at 10:35 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. Prime Minister Dzurinda referred to President Vladimir Putin of 
Russia.