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Global Diplomacy

President Bush Meets with President Calderón of Mexico

Oval Office

January 13, 2009
10:58 A.M. EST

PRESIDENT BUSH: Bienvenido a mi amigo. Mr. President, welcome. It hasbeen a true pleasure to work with President Calderón. He's a man ofconviction, he is a man of principle, and he is a man who's willing to takeon tough challenges. I appreciate every meeting I've had with him.

I want to talk about two subjects quickly. One, Americans are concernedabout the battle that's taking place in Mexico, and I want our fellowcitizens to understand that this man understands the responsibilities ofgovernment to provide security; that he will not allow his country, orparts of his country, to be taken over by narco-traffickers; and that theUnited States of America wants to share and help deal with the issue onboth sides of the border. The less drugs we use, the less pressure therewill be in Mexico. We have got responsibilities to help prevent guns fromgoing from the United States into Mexico.

And so, Mr. President, you and I have laid the foundation for aconstructive and mutual engagement on this issue.

And secondly, I want to thank you for your steadfast support of trade.I'ma big, strong believer in NAFTA. NAFTA has been good for the United Statesof America, and NAFTA has been good for Mexico. And I want to thank youfor that.

And so, Mr. President, it has been a pleasure to work with you. Thank youfor your friendship.

PRESIDENT CALDERÓN: (Speaking in Spanish.)

(Speaking in English.)We have a strong commitment in order to fight anddefeat the criminals in Mexico, and we will do so. And we have a strongcommitment to the rule of law, enforcement of the law in our country.

(Speaking in Spanish.)

(Speaking in English.)Thank you, President Bush. Good luck in thefuture.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you, sir.

INTERPRETER: Good afternoon, friends.I wanted to say that I came here toWashington, D.C., to wish President Bush the very best. I want to wish himand his family all the best in this new phase.And I want to thank himespecially for the friendship that he has shown me over the last two yearsin facing our common challenges together.

PRESIDENT CALDERÓN: And his support.

INTERPRETER: And for his support. With regard to the issues thatPresident Bush has raised, I want to say that our administration has made acrucial decision in this regard. We are going to be promoting law, we aregoing to be promoting order in our country. We will be promoting the ruleof law for all Mexicans.

We have worked jointly in this regard.We have worked together on the drugtrafficking combat front. We have worked together to combat organizedcrime.

This is not an isolated problem for any country. This is a common problemthat affects us both. And in order to do so, we have worked together andwe have made this resolution.

We are committed to fighting criminals and to overcoming them once and forall. And the rule of law is the one thing that I want to stress we aregoing to promote, no matter what, in our country.

I agree with what the President has said with regard to the North AmericaFree Trade Agreement. It has proved to be very useful, both for the UnitedStates and for Mexico.In that regard, millions of jobs were created herein the United States. Mexico is the second-largest purchaser of U.S.goods.We buy, in fact, twice as many U.S. products as the People'sRepublic of China. Two million jobs based on exports were created inMexico --

PRESIDENT CALDERÓN: No, in the United States.

INTERPRETER: In the United States -- excuse me -- as a result of NAFTA. And yesterday, I was discussing with President-Elect Obama the fact that weare willing to continue working on future additions of a way to continue tobuild on the achievements that NAFTA has created -- benefits, issues ofconcern to both of our citizens. I understand that there are issues ofconcern to Mexicans, as well as to U.S. citizens, on the issue of theenvironment and on labor.

I want to wish the very best to President Bush, to his family, as well asto the United States. The U.S. will continue to solve its problems withsuccess, I have no doubt about that. And we in Mexico can only wish thevery best for this country, a great country, and for its citizens inovercoming the economic crisis it is now facing, overcoming other problems,as well as drug consumption, because any problems arising in the UnitedStates in some way will also affect Mexican citizens, as well.

And so we can only wish you the very best in every area. Thank you.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you, thank you.Adios.

END 11:09 A.M. EST