[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 7 (Monday, February 25, 2008)]
[Pages 246-253]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's News Conference With President John Agyekum Kufuor of 
Ghana in Accra

February 20, 2008

    President Kufuor. Welcome, Mr. President. I believe we agreed to 
expose ourselves to the ladies and gentlemen of the media. [Laughter] So 
we are ready for your questions.
    President Bush. Let me have a--you want me to say something 
initially, Mr. President?
    President Kufuor. Well, you may, Mr. President.
    President Bush. See, he doesn't want to hear what I said upstairs 
again. But I do want to say a couple of comments. First of all, thank 
you very much for your warm hospitality. I am really happy to be in 
Ghana, as is my wife; this is her second time here, Mr. President. And I 
want to thank you for this grand welcome. And I appreciate your 
leadership.
    Upstairs we talked about the Millennium Challenge Account. And it is 
a sizeable sum of taxpayers' money, aimed at helping you achieve your 
objectives, because your Government, led by you, is one that fights 
corruption and invests in its children, invests in the health of its 
citizens.
    I'm oftentimes asked, ``What difference does it make to America if 
people are dying of malaria in a place like Ghana or anywhere else?'' It 
means a lot. It means a lot morally; it means a lot from a--it's in our 
national interests. After all, if you believe we're in an ideological 
struggle against extremism, which I do, the only way these people can 
recruit is when they find hopeless people. And there's nothing more 
hopeless than a mother losing a child needlessly to a mosquito bite.

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    We spent time talking about trade, and I'm looking forward to 
meeting some of your businesses today, Mr. President. I believe firmly 
in fair trade, and I'm a strong supporter of AGOA. My predecessor put it 
in office; I've worked to get it reauthorized. It's an important part of 
your development. Your businesspeople are making decisions. Your 
businesspeople are employing people in your country. And your 
businesspeople should have access to markets.
    I do want to announce today that--I am announcing a new initiative 
dealing with disease, and that is--our plan is to make it available a 
total of $350 million over 5 years--to target what they call neglected 
tropical diseases, such as hookworm or river blindness. This is all part 
of our initiative--whether it be on HIV/AIDS or malaria--to help save 
lives. And so, Mr. President, we're looking forward to working with you 
to help save lives and to bring hope to families.
    I want to also announce today that we're going to devote nearly $17 
million this year to help you on fighting malaria. I firmly believe your 
Government will do a fine job in getting mosquito nets and--to your 
people and medicines to your people. And so we're looking forward to 
helping you.
    I also want to thank you for your leadership, Mr. President. As I 
said upstairs, I don't think a lot of people in Ghana--I hope a lot of 
people in Ghana understand this--what I'm about to say, but you're 
really one of the respected leaders around the world because of your 
firm commitment to peace. I thank you for your leadership here on the 
continent of Africa. My administration's strategy is to support African 
leaders to deal with Africa's problems.
    I know there's a controversial subject brewing around that's not 
very well understood, and that's, why would America stand up what's 
called AFRICOM? Let me talk about a couple of points there, Mr. 
President. First, this is a unique command structure for America. It is 
a command structure that is aiming to help provide military assistance 
to African nations, so African nations are more capable of dealing with 
Africa's conflicts, like peacekeeping training. Obviously, we've got an 
issue in Darfur that we've got to all work together to solve. And I'm 
very pleased that the AU and the U.N. hybrid force should be moving in 
there. I'd like to see it moving quicker, but the whole purpose of 
AFRICOM is to help leaders deal with African problems.
    Secondly, we do not contemplate adding new bases. In other words, 
the purpose of this is not to add military bases. I know there's rumors 
in Ghana--``All Bush is coming to do is try to convince you to put a big 
military base here.'' That's baloney. [Laughter] Or as we say in Texas, 
that's bull. [Laughter] Mr. President made it clear to me, he said, 
``Look, we--you're not going to build in any bases in Ghana.'' I said, I 
understand; nor do we want to. Now, that doesn't mean we won't develop 
some kind of office somewhere in Africa. We haven't made our minds up. 
This is a new concept.
    Now, Mr. President, I appreciate you giving me time to address this 
issue. I want to dispel the notion that all of a sudden, America is 
bringing all kinds of military to Africa. It's just simply not true. 
This is a way of making our command relevant to the strategy that we 
have put in place. And I feel no more confident than describing--I feel 
very confident in describing that strategy next to you because I am 
confident, Mr. President, in your capacity to be a strong leader. You've 
proved that to be the case.
    And finally, he said we're both leaving office together. That's 
true. But we're going to leave strong with our heads held high, and 
we're going to sprint to the finish, aren't we, Mr. President?
    President Kufuor. Indeed. Thank you.
    President Bush. Good, thank you. Questions?
    President Kufuor. Thank you, Mr. President. Well, may I just 
compliment what the President has just said. I am happy, one, for the 
President dispelling any notion that the United States of America is 
intending to build military bases on the continent of Africa. I believe 
the explanation the President has given should put fade to the 
speculation, so that the relationship between us and the United States 
will grow stronger and with mutual respect. And that's for one.
    Two, I should thank the President for the initiative he's just 
announced of creating a fund to fight the neglected diseases on the

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continent. My Government, for example, and I would say that for perhaps 
all African governments, is committed to fighting these diseases, but on 
a very shoestring budget, so that if our friends internationally would 
come out and launch initiatives like this to support us fight these 
diseases, then I will say, ``Welcome, and thank you for that 
initiative.''
    Then the $17 million you are extending to my Government to help in 
the fight against malaria. Just this morning I saw in one of our papers 
that malaria, which perhaps kills more of us than even HIV/AIDS in 
Ghana, has increased by about 13 percent in our community. So any help 
that we can get in our fight to contain and eradicate this disease 
should be most welcome to the people of Ghana. And I thank you for what 
you've done.
    President Bush. Yes, sir. Thank you.
    President Kufuor. Thank you. I believe we'll----
    President Bush. Want to answer a few questions?
    President Kufuor. Yes, we can take questions.
    President Bush. All right, good. Why don't you call on somebody in 
your press.
    President Kufuor. Please. Now, you identify yourself. Whoever is 
going to speak should identify themselves and the papers or radio 
stations, television stations they are working for.

President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief/President's Visit to Ghana

    Q. Good morning, your Excellencies, President Kufuor and President 
Bush. Thank you for taking my questions. First, a little bias, first to 
President Kufuor--I would like to know, fighting HIV/AIDS and malaria is 
the focus of this visit, but can you tell us in what other concrete 
terms this visit will benefit the economy of Ghana and Ghanaians in 
particular, since both of you leave office at the end of this year?
    And then to President Bush--we know that your support for the fight 
against HIV/AIDS has been driven by promoting sexual abstinence and 
fidelity to each other's partner. In African societies, we know that 
this doesn't really strike a chord because multiple sexual relationships 
or partner relationships is the reality, though it's not spoken of in 
public. So how realistic an approach would you want to be adopted in 
fighting HIV/AIDS within this particular context? Thank you.
    President Bush. Yes, thanks.
    President Kufuor. I answer first. The fight against HIV and malaria 
is not time bound; I'm sure you would agree with me. The malaria, for 
instance, was with us from perhaps time immemorial, and it's still with 
us. Fortunately, we happen to be living in science and technology times, 
and solutions are being found quickly to pandemics. So within my time, I 
am happy the President of the United States of America has come out with 
large resources, talking of something like $45 billion--it's not 
something you hear of every day.
    So I welcome that. And this money, I hope, will be put to the best 
uses, in terms of engaging the best scientific and technological means 
to tackle this disease. The research is still ongoing. Nobody is 
announcing a find yet, but we shouldn't give up. And within my time, I'm 
happy this help is coming to infuse the efforts we are already making, 
so that the researchers will continue. And long after me, perhaps some 
clever person, scientist, may come out with a solution. This is how I 
want to look at this. I do not give a time bound to the solution that we 
seek.
    President Bush. First of all, obviously, the status quo is not 
acceptable. One of the reasons that I was motivated to put forth a 
significant request to our Congress for a comprehensive program to deal 
with HIV/AIDS is, I felt it was unacceptable to stand by and watch a 
generation of people, a generation of folks be eradicated.
    And so I understand customs and norms, but it seems like to me that 
if you really want to solve the problem, step one is to have a 
comprehensive prevention program. And you mentioned abstinence. No 
question, that's a part of the program, or be faithful. But also, I just 
want to remind you, there's a third part called condoms. So we have an 
ABC program that is a comprehensive part of the strategy.
    And it's working. Uganda, for example, was the first country to 
really put the ABC strategy in place, and the results are measurable.

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All I'm interested in is results. I'm wise enough to set the strategy 
and change the tactics if they're not working.
    Secondly, part of our strategy is to dispense antiretroviral drugs. 
When I first became President, 50,000 people were receiving ARVs. Today, 
over 1.2 million are. As I said to our country, this is good. These are 
measurable results, and it's a good start, but it's only a start. And 
that's why, as the President mentioned, I've asked for Congress to 
double our budget on HIV/AIDS to $30 billion over 5 years.
    And finally, part of the strategy is to take care of the orphans who 
have been left behind. Now, I don't believe that sometimes bureaucracies 
are all that effective. So part of our strategies is to trust the local 
leadership to devise strategies that best suits their country. And the 
other part of the strategy is to empower these compassionate folks who 
want to help, whether they be faith-based or otherwise.
    And so to answer your question, ma'am, I monitor the results. And if 
it looks like it's not working, then we'll change. But thus far, I can 
report, at least to our citizens, that the program has been unbelievably 
effective. And we're going to stay at it. And the purpose of this trip 
is to remind the American taxpayers that it's in their interest to help 
save lives on the continent of Africa. So this program will extend 
beyond my time as office as well as John Kufuor's time in office.
    Ben Feller, Associated----
    President Kufuor. May I just add, Mr. President----
    President Bush. Yes, sure.
    President Kufuor. ----to what you said. Unless we are challenging 
the statistic given by the AIDS Commission of Ghana, the very reputable 
establishment, the prevalence rate dropped from 2006, when it was 2.6 
percent, to 2.2 percent in 2007. I believe that's considerable. And 
perhaps some of the credit should be given to the extension of help in 
terms of resources, including the antiretroviral drugs that we got from 
development partners like the United States of America.
    So even as we agree to perhaps a bit of looseness in our ways, we 
must also admit that whatever input we are making, are contributing 
towards enabling us contain the menace--I believe I should add that. 
From 2.6 percent prevalence rate of HIV in 2007, we got 2.2 percent, a 
reduction of prevalence in 2006; I believe we should acknowledge that.
    President Bush. All right. Ben Feller, Associated Press. I will 
identify him for you, Mr. President.
    President Kufuor. Thank you.
    President Bush. Ben Feller. [Laughter]

Pakistan/U.S. Aid to Africa

    Q. Thank you for covering that, Mr. President.
    President Bush. Yes. I was afraid you couldn't handle it.
    Q. Thank you. President Bush, I would like to ask you about 
Pakistan. President Musharraf's party has been routed in parliamentary 
elections there, and it appears that he's lost the support of his 
people. Do you see this as the beginning of the end for him? Do you 
still view him as a credible leader in the fight against terrorism?
    President Kufuor, I would like to ask you, President Bush has made a 
point on this trip of saying that helping Africa is in America's 
interest, but in the United States, a lot of people are focused on their 
own families and their own finances. Do you believe Americans see it in 
their interest to help Africa?
    President Bush. Yes. I might try to help you out on the last 
question. America is wealthy enough to do both.
    There was a victory for the people of Pakistan, and that is, there 
were elections held that have been judged as being fair. And the people 
have spoken. I view that as a significant victory. I view it as a part 
of the victory in the war on terror. After all, ideologues can't stand--
like these guys we're dealing with--can't stand free societies. That's 
why they try to kill innocent people. That's why they tried to 
intimidate people during the election process.
    And so I'm--I appreciate the fact that President Musharraf has done 
exactly that which he said he was going to do. He said he'd hold 
elections; he said he would get rid of his emergency law. And so it's 
now time for the newly elected folks to show up and form their 
Government. And the question

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then is, will they be friends of the United States? And I certainly hope 
so.
    We view Pakistan as an important ally. We've got common interests. 
We've got interests in dealing with radicals who killed Benazir Bhutto. 
We've got interests in helping to make sure there's no safe haven from 
which people can plot and plan attacks against the United States of 
America and Pakistan. And so that's my take on the elections.
    President Kufuor. Thank you, and whether American interests 
coincides with African interests, I would say, yes. Yes. One should ask 
what the whole idea of the United States is about. The U.S. is a melting 
pot of all the races and nationalities of the world. Your country has a 
large content of African Americans, so that I would expect that 
constituency of Africa--and incidentally, the African Union has itemized 
the people of African descent as the sixth region of Africa. So we look 
on the African Americans as our kith and kin, and they constitute a 
sizeable constituency in the United States. It should be in their 
interest to support any help the United States can extend to Africa. 
That's one.
    Two, we are all moving into a global village, and problems overspill 
easily, especially with the free movements of people and trade, so that 
if the United States should lock itself into isolationism and think they 
are safer there, then I would say, perhaps they don't know what is 
coming, because global village is a reality. Migration cannot be 
stopped, and if you do not help, then the vibrant youth of Africa, 
driven by the technological age forces--they watch television, the 
Internet, and so forth--they want to move and see what's happening 
around the world. They will come to you, and if you do not help us to 
prepare this youth, then whatever youth would land on your shores would 
come with all the roughness, the hurry, and that would be your headache.
    So I believe it's enlightenment for the United States Government to 
want to support them here. And then we talk terrorism, which has no 
bounds. As evidence, when the 9/11 happened in your country, it wasn't 
only Americans who became victims; some Ghanaians died in that event, 
and shows we have common interests somewhere. So these and other factors 
should account for why the United States, perhaps industrially and 
otherwise the most advanced country in the world, should be concerned 
about the plight of other peoples. Thank you.

President's Visit to Africa/U.S. Role in Africa

    Q. Good morning, Your Excellencies. My question is to President 
Bush. Looking at Africa from afar, things might look bleak, but all may 
not be lost yet. A new Africa is emerging. But in your candid view, what 
do you think Africa must do, and what kind of leadership do you expect 
to see in Africa? And how will the U.S. help in this regard, to push 
forward the agenda to transform the continent into a better place for 
its people?
    And secondly, what do you hope to achieve from your five-nation 
tour, and why have you decided to visit Africa on the last lap of your 
term? And how do you want to insure continuity in whatever you hope to 
achieve?
    President Bush. Thanks. I actually went to Africa on the first lap 
of my Presidency too. This is my second trip to the continent of Africa, 
and I've come to remind our fellow citizens that it is in our interest 
to help countries deal with curable diseases like malaria and difficult 
diseases like HIV/AIDS; that it's in our interest to promote trade 
between the continent of Africa and the United States of America; that 
it's in our interest to provide education money so governments will 
educate children.
    And there's no better way of making that point than to be in Ghana, 
where people will get to see firsthand what I'm talking about. It's one 
thing to be giving speeches in America; it's another thing to actually 
come to Ghana and meet different folks that are involved with making 
Ghana a better place.
    Secondly--first of all, Africa has changed since I've been the 
President in a very positive way. It's not because of me; it's because 
of African leaders, I want you to know. But there was six regional 
conflicts when I became the President. Take Liberia, for example. It was 
a real issue and a real problem, and along with Nigeria and with John's 
advice, for example, I made some decisions, along with other leaders, 
that helped put in place the first democratically elected woman

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on the continent's history. And I'm going there tomorrow to herald the 
successes she's done and to reaffirm our commitment that we'll help.
    In other words, conflict resolution has been taking place. And the 
United States hasn't tried to impose a will. We've just tried to be a 
useful partner, like in eastern Congo, for example, working with the 
Presidents of Rwanda and Congo and Burundi.
    Secondly, democracy is making progress across the continent of 
Africa. One reason why is because there are examples like John Kufuor 
for people to look at. I'm telling you, the guy is a respected person. 
People look at him, and they say, this is the kind of leader that we 
respect.
    And thirdly, our aid program has changed from one that basically 
said, here's your money; good luck, to one that said, in return for 
generosity, we expect there to be certain habits in place, like fighting 
corruption or investing in the education of children. I don't think 
that's too much to ask in return for U.S. taxpayers' money. It hasn't 
been asked in the past. This is a novel approach, interestingly enough. 
But I feel confident in asking nations to adhere to good principles 
because I believe in setting high standards for African leaders.
    I'm confident in the capacity of the leaders I have met--not every 
single leader--but on this trip, the leaders I'm with are leaders who 
have committed themselves to the good of their people, have committed 
themselves to honest government, have committed themselves to investing 
in people. They're more interested in leaving behind a legacy of 
education than leaving behind fancy--a self-serving government. And 
there's no better way of making that point than coming to the continent. 
And that's why I'm here, and I'm glad I am here. It's been a great trip, 
and it's--and I appreciate the hospitality of my friend, and so does 
Laura.
    Let's see here, John McKinnon. He would be from your Wall Street 
Journal. Yes, that's a pretty sophisticated paper, no question about 
that.
    Q. Thanks for that plug.
    President Bush. Yes. I didn't say, sophisticated reporter; I said, 
sophisticated paper. But--and a sophisticated reporter as well--yes, 
Johnny.

China

    Q. Thank you, Mr. President. I would like to ask both you leaders 
about the increasing role of China in Africa's development. What do you 
think is positive about its role in aid and commerce, and what do you 
think it could be doing a better job with? In particular, do you think 
it's ignoring human rights issues and corruption?
    President Bush. Well, I might let John start. He's, after all, been 
engaged with leaders. I have an opinion, but we'll let him start.
    President Kufuor. I believe we should all agree, for starters, that 
the world is opening up and opening up fast. Values are becoming 
uniform, and the--our multinational efforts agenda, openness and 
competitiveness and all inclusiveness. Now China is spreading out, and 
it's here in Africa and in Ghana too. It's coming not as a colonial 
power, as far as we can see. It's coming, if I may put it, as a guest 
and, I believe, on our terms, on the terms of the African nations.
    And I can assure you, our nations are not succumbing to dictates and 
impositions, not from China nor elsewhere. If it's something that Africa 
wants to buy and it can find it economical, then whatever it is, that's 
where Africa will buy it from. And China is proving quite competitive. 
So how do we stop China? We can't stop China. We are relating, and we 
want to relate on common values. We believe that's what, again, 
globalization should be all about. We are in the United Nations with 
China. We talk World Trade Organization and I believe China is finding 
its way into that.
    President Bush. Yes.
    President Kufuor. We want peace around the world. How do we have 
peace if we do not engage each other peacefully in trade, in common 
dialog, and in other respects? So this is China. As to it being useful, 
and I would say, so far, so good. And I believe Africa is showing 
awareness because Africa came out of colonialism not too long ago. 
Ghana, for instance--the first country south of the Sahara to have 
gained independence--gained independence only 50 years ago. And I don't 
think the memory is lost to Africa.

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    So whatever friendships we are engaging in now, we try as hard as 
possible to turn our new partners around. We try to see if we are 
engaging on our best terms so we maximize returns for us. Of course, we 
also care about our partners feeling that they haven't come in here to 
be shortchanged. There should be mutual advantage to all of us, and this 
is how we are engaging with China. So as far as we are concerned, so 
far, it's all right with China.
    Human rights, well, this would call for knowledge of what obtains in 
China. I don't pretend that we are too informed of what happens inside 
China, but we believe that in due course, whatever the situation is, 
there will be a tendency towards liberalization. Before, the 
relationship with China was government to government; now it's getting 
to be people to people. It seems all of us are coming under the 
influences of the information and communications technology.
    So our views are becoming the same. People are beginning to speak 
for themselves everywhere and standing for their rights. I believe even 
in China this will come to prevail in due course. And on this basis, I 
don't think it would be right for people to ostracize. Rather, we should 
find ways and means to engage with each other so it becomes a more 
understanding world for all of us. Thank you.
    President Bush. I don't view Africa as zero-sum for China and the 
United States. I mean, I think we can pursue agendas that--without 
creating a great sense of competition. I mean, inherent in your question 
is that I view China as a fierce competitor on the continent of Africa--
no, I don't.
    I view--first of all, I just will tell you that our policy is aimed 
at helping people. Trade helps people. I mean, one reason I'm committed 
to trying to get the Doha round complete is because the benefits of 
trade will far exceed monies given. I believe that it's in our Nation's 
interests--like, I noticed on the seal of the country it says, freedom 
and justice. There's nothing that promotes justice more than good 
education.
    Now, I do think that it's in the leaders' interests to have some 
high standards, like, for example, I presume that countries are saying 
that if you bring your capital, make sure that you employ African 
workers. I know some of the leaders I've talked to have said that one of 
the things we're going to do is make sure that our environment is 
protected, our trees are protected; that we're not going to allow 
ourselves to become exploited; and that we, in fact, want to have 
relations with different countries, including China, but there is--there 
will be some high standards. And that's the way it should be, high 
standards for every country. And the United States, of course, is 
willing to live with those standards. We believe in those standards.

    And so one thing that I hope that we're getting, that we all can do 
better, is to encourage value-added processing. And one of the things 
that has been lacking in Africa's past is for the people to really truly 
realize the benefits of the resources at home, because those resources 
are just dug out of the ground or grown and just shipped overseas, when, 
in fact, if there could be facilities that take advantage of those 
resources, it will create more employment for people. And I know that 
John is concerned about that.

    And my only point is, there ought to be--you know, these countries 
ought to set standards and expect countries to live by them. And there's 
plenty of leaders who are willing to do that.

    Anyway, thank you very much, Mr. President. It's been a joyful 
experience here in the press conference.

    President Kufuor. Thank you, Mr. President, for coming.

    President Bush. Yes, sir.

    President Kufuor. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.

Note: The President's news conference began at 10:38 a.m. at Osu Castle. 
In his remarks, he referred to President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan; 
former Prime Minister and Opposition Leader Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan, 
who was killed in a suicide attack in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on December 
27, 2007; President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia; President Paul 
Kagame of Rwanda; President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of 
the Congo; and President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi.

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