[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 47 (Monday, November 27, 2006)]
[Pages 2076-2077]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following a Meeting With President Vladimir Putin of Russia in 
Hanoi

November 19, 2006

     President Bush. Today Vladimir and I are pleased to report that 
after a long set of negotiations, Representative Gref and Ambassador 
Schwab have signed agreements that will be good for the United States 
and good for Russia--and that is, we support Russia's accession into the 
WTO. I congratulate you all for your hard work and thank you very much 
for the hard work.

[[Page 2077]]

    I repeat, this is a good agreement for the United States. And 
equally important, it's a good agreement for Russia, and it's a good 
agreement for the international trading community. And I thank you very 
much, Vladimir, for working hard on this agreement.

    As usual, we've had a very important dialog. And we talked about 
common interests and how we can work together to solve some of the 
world's problems, including North Korea and Iran. And I want to thank 
you for your time and friendship.

    President Putin. On my part, I would like to add that we've been in 
the process of difficult and lengthy work, 5 years of intense effort 
which has been culminated today with the signing of a protocol on 
Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization, which has been a 
successful outcome of this effort.

    And I would like to underscore that this would not have been 
possible to achieve without expert and professional involvement both on 
the side of the U.S. and Russia, and without good will expressed in 
this--should I say, in the right term would be to use here--very 
businesslike approach in their dealing.

    On top of that, it would not have been possible without a political 
will, which has been here expressed by the President of the United 
States of America. And I agree with you, George, that this lays out very 
favorable conditions to us to jointly tackle the very pertinent and 
acute problems of international relations together.

    It also lays out favorable conditions to further develop the scope 
and volume of commerce and economic interaction between the business 
partners--between our two countries involved with other countries.

Note: The President spoke at 4:16 p.m. at the Sheraton Hanoi. In his 
remarks, he referred to Minister of Economic Development and Trade 
German Oskarovich Gref of Russia; and Ambassador Susan C. Schwab, U.S. 
Trade Representative. President Putin spoke in Russian, and his remarks 
were translated by an interpreter.