[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 18 (Monday, May 12, 2008)]
[Pages 664-665]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in a Discussion With President Martin Torrijos Espino of Panama

May 6, 2008

    President Bush. It's been my pleasure to welcome my friend the 
President of Panama. Mr. President, welcome back. It's good to see you, 
sir. I can't thank you enough for your friendship and your leadership. 
Under your leadership, relations between the United States and Panama 
are strong and healthy and vibrant.
    I'll never forget being your guest in your beautiful country and 
going to see the Panama Canal. It's a engineering marvel. And then when 
you shared with me your vision about the expansion of the Canal, I said, 
now here's a man who thinks big. And, in fact, not only do you think 
big, but you act. And the President has shared with me the expansion 
plans, the progress being made, and I congratulate you very much for 
that progress.
    Secondly, we talked about trade. The Panamanian free trade vote is a 
priority of this Government. It is--it should be a priority of the 
United States Congress. The President has heard a lot of talk about 
whether or not trade bills will move or not. And I assured him that we 
will do everything in our capacity to move the trade bills, not only the 
Panamanian bill but the Colombian bill and the Korean bill. It's in this 
country's interest, Mr. President. And I want to thank you for going up 
to the Hill to work the issue.
    We talked about food prices. The President is deeply concerned about 
the cost of food for the citizens of his country. I expressed the same 
concerns. I told him that if there's any way that we can help with food 
shortages, we'll try to help. And--but I appreciate your compassion and 
corazon grande.
    And finally, we talked about drugs--drugas. And I assured him I 
understood that the drug issue is two-way. One, that because too many of 
our citizens use drugs, it provides an avenue for the movement of drugs. 
And we've got to do a better job in America of reducing the demand for 
drugs. And we must also help our friends in the neighborhood deal with 
the suppliers of drugs. The President is committed to sharing 
intelligence and working closely--and so are we--working closely 
together to prevent drugs from being transhipped through Panama, which 
is bad for his country and bad for ours.
    And there's a bill--a funding issue up on Congress called the Merida 
project that not only works with Mexico but also works with our Central 
American friends, including Panama. It's a strategy designed by experts 
on both sides. It's a strategy that we're convinced will work. And I ask 
Congress to pass the Merida project in whole, as written.
    And, Mr. President, I'm honored you're here, and I thank you again 
for coming.
    President Torrijos. Thank you, Mr. President.
    President Bush. Bueno hombre.
    President Torrijos. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank you 
for your interest in the region--in Latin America. You have not only 
studied the problems of Latin America, but you have visited Latin 
America. It's been a part of your concern. And I want to thank you for 
your commitment on free trade and on the hopes that we can successfully 
conclude the--[inaudible]--and trade that we have together.
    I want to thank you for the cooperation that we are experience in 
this difficult time regarding food prices and exchanging ideas, projects 
that we have on the bilateral agenda--projects on education, projects on 
health, and of course, a mutual commitment of fighting drug trafficking 
in benefit of both countries and building the capacity of the region to 
be able to handle the problems related to drugs and crime.
    So thank you, President. It's been really a privilege, the 
friendship that Panama has with the United States. And we hope that this 
success story of Panama and the United States solving the issue of the 
Panama Canal, and now looking forward for the future of the canal 
expansion, it's something that we always keep in mind of how we can 
build a mutual future.
    President Bush. Thank you, sir. Gracias.
    President Torrijos. Thank you.

[[Page 665]]

    President Bush. Yes. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 3:07 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House.