Jul 27, 2006 (Romania Report)
President Traian Basescu’s visit to the White House, the talks in the Oval Office with the US President George W. Bush and then the lunch offered by the American President in the honour of his Romanian counterpart marked the beginning of the first day of the official visit Romania’s head state is making to Washington.
Despite his very busy agenda, President Bush spent almost three hours in the company of his Romanian counterpart on Thursday. Something that, according to the diplomatic milieus in the American Capital City, did not exactly followed the diplomatic and protocol practices at the White House. On the contrary, it only occurs very rarely, and only when the American President wishes to express a special regard for his guest.
At noon, following talks on main bilateral issues Presidents Bush and Basescu delivered a short press conference in the Oval Office. Here are some excerpts from the press briefing.
PRESIDENT BUSH: The President and I are friends. Romania and the United States are friends, and we're allies. And as such, we've had an in-depth discussion about a variety of subjects. We talked about the international scene and how we can work together to promote democracy and peace. We talked about the neighborhood, and I assured him that the United States position on Moldova is that we support the territorial integrity of Moldova.
We talked about bilateral relations. One of, of course, the issues that's on the President's mind is the visa policy. He was very articulate and strong in his position that the United States must be forward leaning when it comes to granting visas to the citizens of Romania. I listened very carefully. I assured him that there is a way forward, there's a road map that we'd like to work with our friends and allies on and we will pay very careful attention to what the President said.
We've got a lot on our agenda because we're friends. I do want to thank the people of Romania for their strong support to the young democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan. And your contribution, Mr. President, has been worthwhile and meaningful and I know the Iraqi people are grateful, and so am I.
So welcome back to the Oval Office.
PRESIDENT BASESCU: Thank you very much, Mr. President. In fact, we meet each other after one year -- compare it with what we discussed last year, we conclude that both parties fulfilled the assumed obligations. Romania will continue to remain an ally of the United States in supporting the democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan, in supporting democratic regimes in these countries as a key of freedom within the area.
At the same time, we analyzed together the bilateral relations, and the problems in the Black Sea region, in the region where Romania is located; we analyzed the western Balkans situation, we analyzed the situation of Moldova and the necessity of having Republic of Moldova in (inaudible) territory unaffected by anybody.
We concluded that we have to continue our cooperation in the economical, political, and in security sectors. And at the same time, Romania will continue to take tart in peace keeping actions in spreading democracy in the region neighbouring Romania, mainly in the Black Sea region.
That's all in a few words. I thank you very much, Mr. President, for our discussion.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you, sir. (…)
Want to ask somebody from the Romanian press?
Q: Is there any role for the Romanian -- for Romania in the American foreign policy strategy, besides its participation within the American-led coalitions in Iraq and Afghanistan?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Absolutely. I spent a lot of time listening to my friend's advice on the Black Sea region. We're going to spend time over lunch talking about specific issues related to the Balkans. And Romania's role in this area and in her neighbourhood is a vital role, one that I listen very carefully to his advice on, because this area of the world is one where there's emerging democracies, and it's an area of the world that is where there has been historical conflict, and it's an area of the world where we've got to pay attention to it. And so the Romanian role is a vital role.
And so, as I say, we're going to spend time strategizing about the role over lunch. (…)
Q: Mr. President, about a visa waiver, how soon can Romanians expect to travel to U.S. without a visa? And when taking this decision that Romanians are expecting, are you going to take under consideration, for instance, that Romanians will probably want to come and work in the United States in huge numbers? Is that the problem for the United States?
PRESIDENT BUSH: No, no. It's an interesting question you bring up, however. I told the President we're dealing with an immigration debate here in the United States and that I'm hopeful that we'll get a comprehensive immigration bill that will accommodate people who want to work here, but we want them to work here on a temporary basis and in a legal way.
No, the issue with the visa policy first started because of what was an overstay problem based upon a history of people travelling to the United States during a different era. In other words, a lot of people during the previous era -- that era would be one defined by a non-free society versus a free society -- would come to the United States on a temporary visa and then would overstay their visa. And we have laws on the books that say countries who have people come and overstay their visas, therefore, must be viewed differently than others.
Now, one of the first changes we have made is that we have said, okay, that's a bygone era, now let's look toward the future. Secondly, we've said to countries, we want to work together on a road map to make sure the visa policy will work. And that's where we are with Romania, as well as other countries. And so each country has to develop its own road map based upon its own particular circumstances.
And that's what we're doing, Mr. President. The answer is, as quickly as we can get these issues resolved, the better. But we've still got work to do.
PRESIDENT BASESCU: If you would allow me, Mr. President, mainly for the American journalists. Romanians don't look at the United States as to an immigration target. In fact, as a member of European Union, the Romanians have a lot of places to work around Romania.
The problem that we have now -- and for this reason I raised the subject of visas in discussions with the President -- is in connection with our students, which are more and more present in the American universities, with our high skilled people who are working in IBM or in Oracle, with our business people -- and if you look at the volume of the business in the last three years, it increased three times. And now a businessperson from Romania, in order to obtain a visa for the United States for discussing about developing a business, has to wait a minimum of three months.
And, in fact, Romanians don't look at the United States as to a place to immigrate illegally, or to find a working place. This problem was settled for Romanians in Europe. We already have people spread around Europe, as Romania has people from Europe, from other countries, which work in Romania. So Romania will not become an illegal immigration problem, or a problem from the point of view of jobs in the United States.
Thank you.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Good job. Thank you.
Following the press conference, President Bush also offered a luncheon in the honour of his Romanian guest, during which the bilateral dialogue was resumed in a more relaxed manner.
Romania Report
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