[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 2 (Monday, January 21, 2008)]
[Page 79]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Prior to a Discussion With Saudi Entrepreneurs in Riyadh

January 15, 2008

    I'm George W. Bush, President of the United States. [Laughter] Thank 
you all for joining us. Ambassador, thanks for setting this up. It's 
important for the President to hear thoughts, hopes, dreams, 
aspirations, concerns from folks that are out making a living. And I 
really appreciate you taking time out of your day to come and visit with 
me. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
    One thing is for certain: The United States benefits when people 
come to my country. And one of my concerns was, after September the 
11th, that our visa policy, particularly for Saudis, was tightened to 
the point where we missed opportunity to show young and old alike what 
our country is really about. I love the fact that some of you were 
educated in America. I think you'll find you got a good education there, 
but more importantly, Americans get to see you, and you get to see them. 
And the best way to achieve better understanding in the world is for 
folks just to get together and get to understand that we share the same 
God; we share the same aspirations for children and for our futures.
    And so this is an important visit for me. I'm thrilled to be in the 
Kingdom. I have--I've got very close relations with His Majesty. We had 
a good visit last night on a variety of subjects. We talked about 
Palestinian peace; we talked about the security issues of the region. I 
talked to the Ambassador and will again talk to His Majesty tonight 
about the fact that oil prices are very high, which is tough on our 
economy, and that I would hope, as OPEC considers different production 
levels, that they understand that if their--one of their biggest 
consumers' economy suffers, it will mean less purchases, less oil and 
gas sold.
    And so we've got a lot of things to talk about, but I want to assure 
you it's from the spirit of friendship. And the hospitality last night 
was warm and the conversation was excellent, just like this one is going 
to be.
    So I want to thank you for coming. I appreciate your time.

Note: The President spoke at 8:51 p.m. at the U.S. Embassy. In his 
remarks, he referred to U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ford M. Fraker; 
and King Abdallah bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia.