WASHINGTON (MNI) – The following is the White House transcript of
the remarks of President Obama and French President Sarkozy late
Tuesday:
4:56 P.M. EDT
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Please, everybody have a seat. Good afternoon.
Bienvenue.
I am delighted to welcome my dear friend, President Sarkozy, to the
White House. And I also want to welcome to the United States the First
Lady of France, and Michelle and I are very much looking forward to
hosting our guests at dinner this evening.
Now, I have to point out that the French are properly famous for
their cuisine, and so the fact that Nicolas went to Bens Chili Bowl for
lunch — (laughter) — I think knows — shows his discriminating palate.
My understanding is he had a half-smoke, so he was sampling the local
wares. And we appreciate that very much.
This visit is an opportunity to return the hospitality that the
President and the French people have shown to me during my visits to
France. And that includes our familys wonderful visit to Paris last
summer. Michelle and I will never forget the opportunity to introduce
our daughters for the first time to the City of Lights. And I dont
think that Sasha will ever forget celebrating her 8th birthday at the
lyse Palace with the President of France. That’s a pretty fancy way
for an 8-year-old to spend their birthday.
Today, President Sarkozy and I have reaffirmed the enduring ties
between our countries. France is our oldest ally, and one of our
closest. We are two great republics – bound by common ideals – that
have stood together for more than two centuries, from Yorktown to
Normandy to Afghanistan.
Under President Sarkozys leadership, France has further secured
its rightful place as a leader in Europe and around the world,
recognizing that meeting global challenges requires global partnerships.
France took the historic step of returning to NATOs military command,
and we are working to revitalize our transatlantic bonds, including a
strong, capable European Union, which the United States firmly supports
— because a close transatlantic partnership is critical to progress,
whether its applying our combined strength to promote development and
confront violent extremism in Africa, or reconstruction in Haiti, or
advancing peace from the Caucasus to the Middle East.
Mr. President, on behalf of the American people, I also want to
thank you for your personal efforts to strengthen the partnership
between our countries. We first met four years ago. I was a senator
then; Nicolas was still running for President at the time, and I
immediately came to admire your legendary energy – and your enthusiasm
for what our countries can achieve together. That was the spirit of
your eloquent speech to Congress three years ago, which deeply moved
many Americans.
Over the past year, the President and I have worked closely on
numerous occasions. We respect one another and understand one another,
and we share a belief that through bold yet pragmatic action, our
generation can bend the arc of history toward justice and towards
progress. And this shared commitment to solving problems allowed us to
advance our common interests today.
We agreed to continue working aggressively to sustain the global
economic recovery and create jobs for our people. And this includes, as
we agreed with our G20 partners at Pittsburgh, to replacing the old
cycle of bubble and bust with growth that is balanced and sustained.
And this requires effective coordination by all nations. To that end, I
updated the President on our efforts to pass financial reform, and I
look forward to the Senate taking action on this landmark legislation so
we never repeat the mistakes that led to this crisis.
We must provide sufficient oversight so that reckless speculation
or reckless risk-taking by a few big players in the financial markets
will never again threaten the global economy or burden taxpayers. We
must assure that consumers of financial products have the information
and safeguards that they need, so their life savings are not placed in
needless jeopardy. And thats why I press for the passage of these
reforms through Congress when they return, and I will continue to work
with President Sarkozy and other world leaders to coordinate our
efforts, because we want to make sure that whatever steps were taking,
they are occurring on both sides of the Atlantic.
We agreed that sustained and balanced growth includes rejecting
protectionism. France is one of our largest trading partners. And we
need to expand global commerce, not constrain it. With that regard, we
think its important that Doha trade negotiations move forward this
year, and we need all interested parties to push for a more ambitious
and balanced agreement that opens global markets. And we look forward
to Frances presidency of both the G8 and G20 next year. So Nicolas is
going to be very busy.
To address climate change, we agreed that all nations aligned with
the Copenhagen accord must meet their responsibilities. And I would
note that President Sarkozys leadership has resulted in significant new
resources to address deforestation around the world. Upcoming meetings
at the United Nations and the Major Economies Forum will be an
opportunity for nations to follow up their Copenhagen commitments with
specific and concrete actions that reduce emissions.
We reaffirmed our commitment to confront the greatest threat to
global security – the spread of nuclear weapons. And I updated
President Sarkozy on our new START treaty with Russia. I look forward
to welcoming President Sarkozy back to Washington in two weeks for our
summit on securing vulnerable nuclear material so that they never fall
into the hands of terrorists.
We discussed our shared determination to prevent Iran from
acquiring nuclear weapons. On this the United States and France are
united, are inseparable. With our P5-plus-1 partners, we offer Iran
good faith proposals to resolve this matter through diplomacy. But Iran
thus far has rejected those offers. Today, the international community
is more united than ever on the need for Iran to uphold its obligations.
And thats why were pursuing strong sanctions through the U.N. Security
Council.
And finally we discussed our efforts to advance security and peace
around the world, including in the Middle East, where we agree that all
sides need to act now to create the atmosphere that gives the proximity
talks the best chance to succeed.
I shared my impressions from my discussions with President Karzai
on the urgent need for good government and development in Afghanistan.
As I told our troops, we salute our coalition partners, and that
includes France, which is one of the largest contributors to the NATO
mission, and which has given its most precious resource, the lives of
its young men and women, to a mission that is vital to the security of
both our countries and the worlds security.
So I thank President Sarkozy for his visit and for the progress
that our countries have made today, in large part because of his
extraordinary leadership. We are global partners facing global
challenges together, and I think that Nicolas will agree that when it
comes to Americas oldest ally, weve never been closer.
So I’ll simply close with words that one American leader expressed
to another French partner more than 200 years ago, because Washingtons
words to Rochambeau reflect the bonds between our countries today: We
are fellow laborers in the cause of liberty and we have lived together
as brothers should do — in harmonious friendship.
In that spirit, I welcome President Nicolas Sarkozy.
-more- (1 of 3)
** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **
[TOPICS: MGX$$$,M$U$$$,MI$$$$]