[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 38 (Monday, September 25, 2006)]
[Pages 1637-1638]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Luncheon Hosted by Secretary-General Kofi Annan of the 
United Nations in New York City

September 19, 2006

    Mr. Secretary-General, distinguished members of the United Nations 
community, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, we're proud to 
welcome you here to our country.
    I'm pleased to be with you at the 61st session of the United Nations 
General Assembly, this year under the President--under the leadership of 
President Sheikha Khalifa from Bahrain, the first woman from the Middle 
East to serve in this position. We welcome her presence on the podium.
    Mr. Secretary-General, it is appropriate that we offer you a toast 
today, a toast based upon our gratitude for your 10 years of service to 
this important body. We need to toast your compassion, when the world 
saw the United Nations respond to natural disasters. We need to toast 
your desire for peace. We need to toast the fact that you're a hard 
worker. For those of you who have had the honor of taking phone calls 
from Kofi Annan, you know that he's not always calling from the same 
address. I've talked to him a lot of times during my time as President, 
and a lot of times my discussions with him came from when he was in 
faraway places, because he cares deeply about the world.
    We need to toast the fact that he loves his wife, and his wife loves 
him. We need to toast the fact that he is a decent, honorable man. We 
need to raise our glasses to 10 years of extraordinary service and be 
thankful that a man such as Kofi Annan was willing to stand up and serve 
the cause of justice and peace.
    And so now if you'll join me in a toast to a good man and a good 
friend, and we ask for God's blessings on you.

Note: The President spoke at 2:14 p.m. at the United Nations 
headquarters. In his remarks, he referred to Sheikha Haya Rashed Al 
Khalifa, President, 61st Session of the U.N. General Assembly; and Nane 
Maria Annan, wife of Secretary-General Annan. The transcript released by 
the Office of the Press Secretary also included the remarks of 
Secretary-General Annan. A tape was

[[Page 1638]]

not available for verification of the content of these remarks.