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SUBSCRIBE The leading Copyright |
October 20, 2003
PRESS BRIEFING BY
NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR DR. CONDOLEEZZA RICE
ON THE PRESIDENT'S BILATERAL MEETINGS
JW Marriott
Bangkok, Thailand
11:20 A.M. (Local)
DR. RICE: Good morning, afternoon or evening, depending on where
your body clock is at this particular point in time. I'm going to
speak just for a couple of minutes about the two meetings that were
held this morning, and then I'd be glad to take your questions.
[ ... ]
There was also a meeting this morning with President Fox of
Mexico.
[ ... ]
Q Two questions. First, can you describe the atmospherics
between the two men? Have the tensions that were between them a couple
of years ago completely dissipated? And secondly, on immigration, what
you said sounds an awful lot like what was said last year after their
meeting at APEC. Can you describe what progress there's been on the
immigration issue since last year?
DR. RICE: The immigration issues are difficult and sensitive
issues. And I think that everybody understands that the post-9/11
environment has made all of this, if anything, more difficult. But
we're making a lot of progress on, for instance, some elements of smart
-- smart borders, the kind of work that Tom Ridge has been doing with
his colleagues, that is improving the border, even in the absence of
new initiatives on immigration, per se. The movement of goods and
people being helped by technology, the ability to sort between what is
legal and safe and what is not, those are the kinds of things that I
think are going to help improve the atmosphere on this issue in
general.
But the Presidents have always made clear, and I think both of them
have a strong commitment to humane immigration policies that recognize
the realities of Mexico's and the U.S.'s relationship. In the
longer-term, they are trying to work through it through the Mexican
economy and growth in the Mexican economy so that the best workers, as
Fox himself -- President Fox himself has said, can stay home and find
good work. But in the short-term, I'm sure that they will continue to
work on the issues. They want to get it right. They've made very
clear that they want to get it right.
I'm sorry, the first question was?
Q The atmospherics and whether there was any tension.
DR. RICE: No, the atmospherics were great. In fact, the President
had called President Fox several days ago before getting here, simply
to say, I'm looking forward to seeing you. What happened has happened,
and I think that it was a relaxed and really warm discussion and
they're looking forward to meeting again.
I saw one other hand. Yes.
[ ... ]
Q On Mexico, again, did the President commit to President Fox a
timetable for passage of a guest worker program, which Fox is under
pressure at home to get passed? Was there any talk of when that would
happen?
DR. RICE: They talked about the importance of dealing with this
sensitive issue sensitively and recognizing that they want to do it
right. They did not talk about timetables. But I think you will --
you will see that both Presidents are committed -- as they were
committed when they were both governors -- to immigration policies that
are humane, immigration policies that take account of the situation of
Mexican workers, immigration policies that try to match willing workers
and willing employers. But they recognize that these are hard issues
and they're going to work through them in a way that makes sense for
both countries.
[ ... ]
END 12:49 P.M. (Local)
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