10 November 2004
Head of NATO Holds Talks with President Bush, Powell
Meeting symbolic of commitment to transatlantic partnership
President Bush emphasized the importance of the transatlantic alliance by inviting the head of NATO to be his first foreign visitor since Bush won re-election November 2.
Meeting November 10 with the both the president and Secretary of State Colin Powell, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, secretary-general of NATO, said the visit symbolized the total commitment of the United States to NATO.
In remarks following his meeting with Powell, Scheffer said NATO has a political role to play in all theaters in which it is involved, mentioning Afghanistan, the Balkans and the training of Iraqi security forces in Norway.
On November 11, Scheffer is scheduled to address the U.N. Security Council, the first NATO secretary-general to do so.
Following is the transcript of their remarks:
(begin transcript)
U.S. Department Of State
Office of the Spokesman
November 10, 2004
REMARKS BY SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN L. POWELL AND
HIS EXCELLENCY JAAP DE HOOP SCHEFFER
AFTER THEIR MEETING
November 10, 2004
C Street Entrance
Washington, D.C.
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, it's a pleasure to have back at the State Department, an old friend of mine, a former Foreign Minister colleague, before he got promoted to become Secretary General of NATO, and he's been doing an absolutely splendid job in that capacity.
And Jaap is the first visitor from overseas to meet with President Bush. And as President Bush said a short while ago, this is clear evidence of our commitment to NATO, our belief in NATO, and our intention to work even more closely with NATO on common issues and challenges that we face throughout the world, as well as the opportunities we face throughout the world.
I expressed my appreciation to Jaap, as the President did, for the work we are doing together in Afghanistan. A great success has been achieved with the presidential election a few weeks ago. But there are so many other places that we are working with NATO -- now in Iraq, as we help the Iraqi military gain the competence they need through NATO-sponsored training, and training beginning at a college, war college in Norway. And I'm also pleased at the work we are doing in Balkans and in so many other areas.
And so, Jaap, I welcome you here to the State Department again. It's good to have you back. I am also pleased to take note of the fact that when you speak before the Security Council of the United Nations tomorrow on the subject of the Balkans, you will be the first NATO Secretary General who has done so in the history of the alliance.
I think that demonstrates the importance of NATO, and the importance of NATO not just as what used to be seen as a transatlantic organization and solely responsible for security and concerned about security but taking on a broader political role in the world, as evidenced by the Secretary General's presentation to the United Nations Security Council tomorrow.
So, Jaap, welcome. I invite you to say a few words.
MR. DE HOOP SCHEFFER: Mr. Secretary, Colin, thank you very much. It's a pleasure and a privilege for me to be back at the State Department to meet my former colleague and old friend. It's also, of course, a very important sign that I was the first foreign visitor, indeed, to meet President Bush in the Oval Office, showing the full and total commitment of the United States to the Transatlantic Alliance to NATO.
I didn't doubt that for a second -- others might, I don't -- but it is a signal of the full commitment. And as the Secretary of State just said, it's a daunting and challenging agenda we're facing. I do not think anybody would have predicted four or five years ago that NATO would be defending values at the Hindu Kush in Afghanistan, or that NATO was setting up a training implementation mission in Iraq; that NATO did a very successful job in the Balkans in Bosnia-Herzegovina and that NATO still because of the fragility of the situation is in Kosovo and will stay in Kosovo.
Of course, all of these theaters we discussed, it's important that NATO is a political actor as well. NATO is a political military organization. NATO should play a political role in the theaters in the areas where we are, where NATO is. And NATO is having the United States onboard and at the table, the unique security organization in the transatlantic relationship, and to see that underlined here in Washington by the President and by the Secretary of State gives a NATO Secretary General a good feeling.
Thank you very much, indeed.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, I wonder if you can elaborate a little bit on the expressed hope by the President that the emergence of a new Palestinian leadership raises hopes for Mideast peace. Do you think the terrorists are going to go away? Do you think these new people -- they were prime ministers, two of them, will be able to take charge and really throttle those groups?
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, it remains to be seen but I think if new leadership emerges in the Palestinian community and if that leadership comes together and makes it clear that the new Palestinian leadership will fight terrorism, will not in any way give any kind of support to terrorist activities, and can mobilize the Palestinian people to bring them together to the realization that terrorism is not helping them achieve their desire for a state of their own, a desire that all of us share and is the hallmark of the President's policy of creating a state for the Palestinian people, and if that kind of leadership emerges that can do that, then we stand ready to work with them.
This is exactly what the President said last year at Aqaba. It's the basis of the roadmap. The roadmap is alive and well, ready to be used, and we hope that kind of responsible leadership will emerge. And that's the point the President was making.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, I'm wondering if you've had a chance to talk to the President since the election about your future, and if so, what you told him and what he told you.
SECRETARY POWELL: I've been with the President at least, oh, eight or nine times since the election, and we've talked about many, many things. But my conversations with the President are private.
QUESTION: Can you elaborate on your plans for a second term? How long are you going to be here?
SECRETARY POWELL: No.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, what can you tell about these new reports of forcible relocations in Darfur?
SECRETARY POWELL: We're concerned about them. We saw a little bit of progress yesterday when an agreement was reached between the government and the rebels having to do with the flying of military aircraft and opening up access of humanitarian supplies again; however, disappointed when we see that they are moving camps again.
I spoke to Vice President Taha over the weekend and specifically said that this kind of behavior was unacceptable, we couldn't understand it, and it was not helping us reach a solution.
And so we'll be pursuing this with the Sudanese, and I'm sure it will be discussed within the Security Council as well.
One more, and then we have to go. No more?
QUESTION: Sir, can you talk a little bit about the long-term solutions to preventing genocide in Darfur? Two years from now, how do we know what is the solution to preventing that kind of long-term genocide?
SECRETARY POWELL: We need a political solution between the rebels and the Government of Sudan, and then we need to restore security throughout Darfur. Hopefully, the African Union troops that are entering Darfur now can help stabilize the area, if not protect every square inch of it, but stabilize it and give the people some assurance that the security situation will improve. We will only be successful if the camps finally are closed and these people are allowed to go home and start their lives again and put in crops. We are not trying to create a permanent population of people in camps.
And security, I think, is uppermost, and security will come from a political solution, as well as the presence of security forces and monitors, and the presence of the African Union troops.
Thank you.
QUESTION: One for the Secretary General?
QUESTION: One for the Secretary --
QUESTION: Yeah.
QUESTION: Can you expand on your desire for NATO to become a more political actor in some of the theaters in which it's working? In Iraq, for instance, you're training Iraqi police. Do you feel as if an expanded role in NATO would give it an impetus to become a bigger political actor? Do you think that there will be -- expanded role for NATO in some of these theaters would be possible if it had a greater political role in these conflicts? Thank you.
SECRETARY GENERAL SCHEFFER: What I mean to say is that the theaters in which NATO is the provider of security and stability, be it Afghanistan, be it Kosovo, or the setting up of a training implementation mission of -- in Iraq, that NATO has, of course, a stake in the political process, and that NATO is not only, let's say, the executive agency of political decisions taken elsewhere, but also should play a political role and is playing a political role. And then I mention more specifically Afghanistan or Kosovo.
As far as Iraq is concerned, NATO is setting up the training implementation mission, training Iraqi security forces and setting up a training academy, and that is the situation at the moment with NATO's role in Iraq.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you.
SECRETARY GENERAL SCHEFFER: Thank you very much.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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