10 July 2006
Bush Lauds Slovenian Contributions in Iraq, Afghanistan, July 10, 2006(President meets with Slovenian Prime Minister Jansa at White House)
Washington -- President Bush thanked Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa for his country’s contributions in Afghanistan and Iraq after the leaders’ meeting at the White House July 10.
“I really appreciate the fact that you have made the courageous decision to help two young democracies, Afghanistan and Iraq, succeed,” said Bush, adding that Slovenia’s contributions “will make a difference in achieving peace.”
Bush also expressed appreciation for the briefing Jansa provided on developments in Central and Southeastern Europe.
“I'm confident that by working together we can improve the lives of our respective peoples, as well as improve the lives of those who are struggling against forms of government that won't allow them to have free expression, won't allow them to self-govern,” the president said.
Bush recalled his visit to “beautiful” Slovenia, which he said he remembers as a “slice of heaven.”
On his first official trip to Europe in June 2001, Bush had his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Brdo Castle in Slovenia.
Jansa said through an interpreter that, after all the help Slovenia received in joining NATO and the European Union, “We feel that now it's our obligation that we help others to do the same.”
On June 25, Slovenia celebrated the 15th anniversary of its independence, which the former Yugoslav Republic won on the battlefield in 1991. Slovenia joined NATO in March 2004 and the European Union two months later. The United States strongly supported Slovenia’s integration into the Euro-Atlantic community.
The United States also welcomed Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek’s initiative in January to marshal additional international resources to provide aid for the estimated 1.8 million internally displaced persons in Sudan’s western Darfur region and 200,000 refugees in Chad. (See related article.)
Jansa said he hopes to welcome Bush to his country in 2008 when Slovenia, as the first of the new European Union (EU) member states to assume the EU presidency, will host the U.S.-EU Summit.
On July 8 and 9, Jansa traveled to northeast Ohio, where some 80,000 Americans of Slovenian ancestry live, and to Pennsylvania, which has the second-largest Slovenian-American population after Ohio, according to the Slovenian Embassy in Washington.
After meeting with Bush at the White House, Jansa attended a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
A transcript of the Bush-Jansa photo opportunity is available on the White House Web site.
