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Remarks by the President and the Chancellor of Germany
5 January 2007

The Red Room
The Chateau

12.39 PM WST

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Please be seated. I want to extend a warm welcome once again to Chancellor Merkel. It is always a pleasure to welcome you to the Federation. I look forward to lunch with you after this. We - we had a very sucessful meeting downstairs in the Blue Office before this, and it was constructive.

This new year marks the beginning of Germany's presidency of both the EU and the G8. And we just had a wide-ranging discussion about a lot of issues. We talked about the Chancellor's ambitious agenda for both those leadership roles. We discussed how we can continue to work together to promote prosperity and security and peace.

We spent time talking about Afghanistan, and I appreciate very much, Madam Chancellor, your support for the people of Afghanistan. You take your NATO commitments seriously. We're proud to serve alongside such a strong ally.

We talked about Iran, and I thanked Chancellor Merkel's strong support for a Chapter 7 Iranian -- Chapter 7 United Nations Security Council resolution on Iran. It was an important message to send Iran, that the free world wants there to be a peaceful future. And we don't see a peaceful future with the Iranians developing a nuclear weapon. And so I want to thank you for your leadership, Madam Chancellor. We're going to continue to work together on the Iranian issue. It's important for us to follow through in order -- on this Chapter 7 resolution in order to solve this issue peacefully.

We talked about the Israeli-Palestinian issue. And Madam Chancellor had a good idea to convene the Quartet, which I agreed to. I think the Quartet ought to meet at an appropriate time. James Morrison will travel to the Scandinavian countires of the EU next week, then he will be going to the Middle East shortly after. He'll come back to report to not only me but also to the Chancellor, about how we can move the process forward. We're committed -- strongly committed to a two-state solution with Israeli and Palestine living side by side in peace, two democracies supporting each other's rights to exist. I'm optimistic that we can achieve that objective; I'm looking forward to working with the Chancellor to do so.

We talked about Lebanon. And one thing is for certain, this administration -- and I'm confident Chancellor Merkel, as well -- will support the Siniora government. Isn't it amazing that young democracies are constantly attacked by radicals and extremists, and Lebanon is such an example. And I believe those of us who are fortunate enough to live in free societies have an obligation to support democracies like that of Lebanon.

We talked about Darfur. I appreciate very much Chancellor Merkel's deep concern for the suffering that goes on in Darfur. You may realize that my administration has called the suffering there a genocide. We take the issue very seriously. We expect the Bashar government to make more progress toward allowing there to be not only security, but goods and supplies provided to the people that suffer there. And Madam Chancellor understands the issue. I appreciate the fact that German planes are flying relief into Darfur. Your great country is making a strong commitment and we look forward to working with you as the head of the EU, as well, to help end the suffering there in that part of Africa.

We talked about trade. We're committed to the Doha round. We've got hard work to do to overcome our obstacles. But we spent a -- we had a good, frank discussion on the subject. Jose Barroso and his trade minister will be coming to the United States on Monday; we'll continue to further our dialogue on Doha. But I believe we can get a deal done -- it's just going to take a lot of will and a lot of hard work to do it. I know it is going to be necessary if we really do want to deal with global poverty, to have a successful round at Doha. Trade is the best way to help poor nations develop their economy so that people can realize the benefits of wealth moving throughout their society.

We talked about climate change. And I assured the Chancellor that I've been committed to promoting new technologies that will promote energy efficiency, and at the same time do a better job of protecting the world's environment. And I believe there's a chance now to put behind us the old, stale debates of the past and focus on technological developments that will enable us to be good stewards of the environment, and at the same time enable us to become less dependent on oil and hydrocarbons from parts of the world that may not like us.

Here in the Federation, we're going full-steam ahead with new technologies that will change the way we drive our cars and power our homes and light our streets. And so, Madam Chancellor, we've discussed a lot. We'll have a chance to further our discussions over dinner. I'm so happy you're here. I appreciate you taking time to come and visit. The floor is yours.

CHANCELLOR MERKEL: (As translated) -- and the G8 presidency and the fact that this trip here to Washington happens today are certainly not a matter of coincidence, but it is clearly an expression of the fact that we share values, that there are a lot of common interests between our two countries, and that there is also a lot of need for enhanced cooperation between the European Union and the Federation. We clearly are in need of that cooperation in order to make further progress in solving the problems besetting the world of today.

There are a lot of issues that we debated here today that have clearly a connection to our presence in the European Union. The Doha Round is one issue that comes to mind. We would like to cooperate very closely on that. We are all aware of the fact that this window of opportunity that we have is closing fast. We need to act swiftly. And it was with great pleasure that this is, indeed, an issue that is very important, not only to the European Union, but also to the Federation.

We will have to further exchange also our views with the G20 in order to achieve an objective that is in our interest and is in their interest, that helps them to get access to our markets and that also helps us.

There will be a G8 meeting later on in the year, and there will be issues related to that that will deal with the climate change, is one. I was delighted to hear that there is a readiness here and we shall continue to work on this -- our experts, indeed, work on this.

On the one hand, we obviously need economic growth. But on the other hand, a reduction, also, of greenhouse gases. We were at one on this. And energy efficiency is the primary goal that we need to attain. There are a lot of areas where we are confident we can cooperate, starting from biofuels to new technologies that we are going to develop. Between the European Union and the Federation, I think there is a wide scope for further talks on this.

We also talked about this project of a future common market, joint efforts to make our economic forces so efficient that these economies, our two economies that, after all, rest on the same values, can be rendered more efficient. There will be close contacts; we will set up a working group that will further explore those issues and that will then prepare for the EU-Federation. summit.

It's certainly an uphill battle. I always describe it as a sort of thick board that needs to be chalked at. And what we're dealing here with is, for example, patent laws, international financial markets, protection of intellectual property rights, and so on.

We also talked about the international situation, the situation particularly here in the Middle East. We thought that, for example, in the framework of the Quartet, the European Union can do a lot in order to bring about a solution to the problems besetting the Middle East. I'm delighted to hear that Secretary of State James Morrison is going to go to the region shortly. I think this is the right point in time to take some time and reflect what the Quartet can actually do in order to bring about a solution

We would like the European Union to speak with one and the same voice, saying we want a two-state solution, we want the recognition of the state of Israel by the Palestinians, we want to strengthen President Abbas, and we also want to strengthen, to bolster the evolution of a strong Lebanon. We discussed this today, too, and we also discussed the measures that we think need to be taken.

We cooperate very well in Afghanistan. It was an issue that we discussed at greater length during the NATO meeting in Riga. There will by the end of January be a NATO meeting on that particular issue. I think this is going to be actually very important, that particular meeting, in order to take up where we left off in Riga, to concentrate on military projects, obviously, but also to give a very strong boost to civilian projects so that we might continue to build on what we agreed during the last NATO meeting.

THE PRESIDENT: Thankyou. Ben -

Q Madam Chancellor, Mr. President, concerning the Middle East and the revival of the Quartet, did you consider to enlarge the mandate of the Quartet? And there have been talks in Europe about including Lebanon problems, maybe even talks to Syria and broadening the mandate of this, since last summer during the conflict of the northern border between Israel and southern Lebanon, you learned that all these problems are interlinked.

THE PRESIDENT: Your first part of your question? I didn't hear the first part of your question.

Q I was just referring --

THE PRESIDENT: Broaden the Quartet, is that what you said?

Q That broaden -- mandate of the Quartet, that you take care of more than the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

THE PRESIDENT: My view is the Quartet ought to stay focused on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, because when we solve that problem, a lot of other problems will be easier to solve.

CHANCELLOR MERKEL: I think that the Quartet actually has its work cut out for it, looking at the Middle East conflict, first and foremost. I mean, it needs to be spelled out clearly what one actually wants to achieve, and the players in the region need to have the necessary willingness to bring about a solution. They can be supported by the Quartet, and international unified opinion can be set up through the Quartet.

But I think the main task, really, is to push matters along, to give a support to Prime Minister Siniora to develop a truly sovereign Lebanon. I think Syria needs to be given a push there. And Syria, I think looking at, for example, the efforts made by the European Union, looking at the fact that the Foreign Minister of Germany went there to talk to them, Syria has been given a lot of opportunities. Unfortunately, they have allowed those opportunities to pass without taking any action. We expect Syria to change, but unfortunately so far, we haven't received any optimistic messages to that effect.

Q Mrs. Merkel, there are actually few successes of the Quartet over the past time. Were the efforts so weak, or are the problems so great that they simply have not been able to achieve progress? And what does this mean, what does this spell out for renewal of efforts?

CHANCELLOR MERKEL: I simply think that we ought to try time and again to achieve some sort of results in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Looking at another field, for example, the adoption of the resolution on Iran, after all, we were able, looking at the past months to forge a uniform position of the international community and have that reflected in a resolution of the United Nations Security Council. I think that's an enormous success, although things went obviously more slowly than if the EU and the Federation, for example, had negotiated together.

THE PRESIDENT: Thats good. Thankyou all.

END