[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 42 (Monday, October 22, 2007)]
[Pages 1362-1364]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following a Meeting With President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of 
Liberia

October 18, 2007

    President Bush. It is such an honor to welcome back to the Oval 
Office the President of our friend and ally Liberia. Madam President, 
thanks for coming. Thanks for your very strong spirit and your deep 
desire to enhance democracy and improve the lives of your people in 
Liberia.
    We had a good discussion. I want to emphasize a couple of points 
that we discussed. First of all, we are committed to helping you relieve 
your debt. This weekend, IMF will be meeting in Washington, DC, and it's 
very important for our friends in the IMF to recognize that debt relief 
is--for Liberia is a part of our agenda, and I would hope that they 
would help you--help you with debt relief. I think it's important. And 
so Secretary Paulson will be taking that message to the IMF.
    Secondly, I want to thank you very much for your dedication and 
focus on helping the children of Liberia get a good education.

[[Page 1363]]

You've worked extremely hard to encourage parents to send their children 
to school, and we want to help you to the extent that you ask for help. 
The United States believes it's important that young boys and girls get 
a good education not only here in America but around the world. And the 
President is committed to universal education in Liberia and have made 
great strides since the days of your civil strife.

    I also am very dedicated to helping you on malaria. Laura and I care 
deeply about the fact that young babies die on the continent of Africa 
and elsewhere needlessly. They die simply because of a mosquito bite. 
And so the President and I talked about our desire to put in place a 
malaria initiative that will save lives in Liberia. And we're going to--
we'll be sending a person on the ground there pretty soon to help 
implement the malaria initiative, and that initiative will mean 
spreading nets and insecticides throughout the country so that we can 
see a reduction in death of young children that--a death that we can 
cure.

    And finally, the Peace Corps has been gone from Liberia, and we 
talked about the fact that now we'll be able to--we're going to move the 
Peace Corps back in. And the Peace Corps has been in touch with our 
State Department and the Liberia folks, and it looks like we're going to 
start moving some teams pretty quickly back into Liberia. And the reason 
why we feel comfortable doing that is because of the leadership of this 
strong person right here.

    And so, Madam President, proud to call you friend and proud to 
welcome you back to the Oval Office.

    President Johnson Sirleaf. Mr. President, thank you. We're so 
pleased to be back here.

    Liberia continues to make progress, despite the many challenges we 
face, and this progress we owe a lot to you and to Mrs. Bush for the 
support we've received. The State Department, National Security Council, 
Treasury have all just been there for us. Whether we're working on debt 
relief, or whether we're trying to improve our educational system or get 
our infrastructure fixed, we've always had a willing hand. The 
Ambassador has been supportive and been a real partner on the ground 
with us.

    We were very pleased, Mr. President, that you granted the delayed 
enforced departure for some of our citizens who couldn't go back home 
because we weren't prepared to receive them----

    The President. Right.

    President Johnson Sirleaf. ----with the jobs and the homes and the 
basic services they needed. So the 18-month reprieve you've given them 
gives them time to prepare themselves and enable us to prepare to 
receive them at some point.

    Liberia was included among three other African countries in the 
special education initiative, and we're very pleased about that. And 
we've just discussed today that you'll be behind us as we try to fight 
malaria. Malaria is one of the greatest killers in our country, 
particular among our young children. And so we'll be working to make 
sure that we get a program where we can have some measurable actions so 
we can reduce this scourge that afflicts our children.

    Overall, we're just so pleased with the relationship. Liberians are 
very proud that you were one of the first ones that set us on this road 
to peace and a road that's enabled us to get the progress we have today. 
We are committed to make Liberia a post-conflict success story. We want 
it to be part of your legacy. We want you to be able to look back and 
say, when I was there I helped Liberia to be a success, to come out of 
the ashes of war and to be a successful economy responding to the needs 
of its people. Thank you for being there for us.

    President Bush. Madam President, thank you. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 10:34 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. President Johnson Sirleaf referred to U.S. Ambassador to Liberia 
Donald E. Booth.

[[Page 1364]]