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Remarks by Bush and Aliyev of Azerbaijan in a Photo Opportunity

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  • Remarks by Bush and Aliyev of Azerbaijan in a Photo Opportunity

    U.S. Newswire (press release), DC
    April 28 2006

    Remarks by President Bush and President Aliyev of Azerbaijan in a
    Photo Opportunity

    4/28/2006 12:34:00 PM


    To: National Desk

    Contact: White House Press Office, 202-456-2580

    WASHINGTON, April 28 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is a transcript of
    remarks by President Bush and President Aliyev of Azerbaijan in a
    photo opportunity today:

    The Oval Office

    10:49 a.m. EDT

    PRESIDENT BUSH: Mr. President, welcome.

    We've just had a really interesting visit. And we talked about the
    need to -- for the world to see a modern Muslim country that is able
    to provide for its citizens, that understands that democracy is the
    wave of the future. And I appreciate your leadership, Mr. President.

    We, obviously, talked about Iran. I assured the President of my
    desire to solve this problem diplomatically and peacefully. I
    appreciate so very much the government's contribution of support in
    troops to the new democracy in Iraq. I spent time describing to the
    President a meeting I had today via video conference with our
    Ambassador and General Casey -- very important for me to bring our
    ally up to date on the progress that's being made on the ground
    there. I shared with him my hope that the national unity government
    will help achieve the objective we all want, which is peace and
    democracy.

    And we, of course, talked about energy. And I appreciate the vision
    of the government and the vision of the President in helping this
    world achieve what we all want, which is energy security. Azerbaijan
    has got a very important role to play. And we discussed internal
    politics and we discussed politics of the neighborhood, as well,
    particularly relations with Armenia.

    I appreciate very much the candid discussion. I thank you for sharing
    your thoughts with me, and thank you for our alliance. And welcome.

    PRESIDENT ALIYEV: Thank you very much, Mr. President. I am very
    grateful for the invitation. I'm very glad to be in Washington and
    have an opportunity to discuss with you the issues of bilateral
    relations. I'm sure that our relations of strategic partnership will
    strengthen in the future.

    We covered all the aspects of our bilateral relations. We are very
    grateful for the leadership of the United States in promotion of the
    energy security issues in the region, in assisting us to create a
    solid transportation infrastructure which will allow to develop
    full-scale Caspian oil and gas reserves and to deliver them to the
    international markets.

    We are allies in the war on terror. We've been from the very first
    day shoulder-to-shoulder with the United States in the peacekeeping
    operations in various parts of the world, and will continue to
    contribute to the creation of peace and stability in the region.

    Of course, the issues of resolution of Armenia and Azerbaijan,
    Nagorno-Karabakh also in the center of our discussions and we -- I
    informed Mr. President with the latest status of the negotiations and
    expressed my hope that a peaceful settlement of the conflict will
    happen and will serve to the peace and stability in the whole region.

    In general, I'd like to say that I'm very satisfied with my visit and
    I consider this as instrumental in the future development of
    Azerbaijan as a modern, secular, democratic country. We share the
    same values. We are grateful for the United States assistance in
    promotion of political process, process of democratization of our
    society, and very committed to continue this cooperation in the
    future.

    Thank you very much, Mr. President.

    PRESIDENT BUSH: One final word. I forgot to mention, I do want to
    congratulate the President and the First Lady on the marriage of
    their daughter this weekend. It's a major sacrifice for the President
    to be here during the planning phases of the wedding. And we wish you
    and the First Lady all the best, and more importantly, we wish your
    daughter all the best.

    PRESIDENT ALIYEV: Thank you, Mr. President.

    PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you.

    END

    10:54 a.m. EDT

    http://www.usnewswire.com/
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