Colin L. Powell Holds A Media Availability With The Minister Of Foreign Affairs Of France

The Associated Press

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TRANSCRIPT

December 15, 2004

MEDIA AVAILABILITY

COLIN L. POWELL

U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE

WASHINGTON, D.C.

COLIN L. POWELL HOLDS A MEDIA AVAILABILITY WITH THE MINISTER OF

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SECRETARY POWELL HOLDS A MEDIA AVAILABILITY WITH THE

MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF FRANCE,

AS RELEASED BY THE STATE DEPARTMENT

DECEMBER 15, 2004

SPEAKERS: COLIN L. POWELL, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE

MICHEL BARNIER, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER

POWELL: It’s a great pleasure to welcome Foreign Minister Barnier, who has
made a very short trip to consult with me and with Dr. Rice, and we’re deeply
appreciative that he would come over. The Foreign Minister and I have done a
lot together in recent days. We were at the Forum for the Future in Morocco
and we had NATO meetings last week, and I think that gives you an indication
of the closeness of consultations that the United States has with France.

We are looking forward in President Bush’s second term to making sure that
we have resolved any of the difficulties and differences that we have had in
the past and remind ourselves once again of all we have been through together
as two nations. And so, I want to extend to the Minister my best wishes for
the holiday season, but especially to thank him for making this trip.

It’s a great pleasure to have you here, Michel.

BARNIER: Thank you Colin. I made this special trip to say goodbye and thank
you to Colin Powell. We have made great jobs over the last eight months
together. We became friends, and I just want to say thank you for that.

And now, let’s opt for the good work to continue.

POWELL: Thank you sir.

QUESTION: Mr. Minister, did you take up with Secretary Powell your —
France’s interest in pushing Mideast negotiations, and specifically a Mideast peace
conference? Did you float that idea, discuss that idea with the Secretary?

BARNIER: If you don’t mind, I’d prefer to answer in French.

QUESTION: Could someone translate?

POWELL: We are.

BARNIER: Yes, what we want to do, of course, is to look to the future in our
relationship between France and the United States and the relationship
between the Europeans and the United States, and that clearly is the frame of mind
that we want to develop and build on.

But of course, the test of an enhanced Euro-Atlantic relationship will be
the ability to relaunch the peace process between Israelis and the
Palestinians, and I’m convinced that that will be our priority in the coming weeks, and
indeed, in the coming days, as soon as the elections on the 9th of January
occur.

QUESTION: Yeah. Is there a peace conference…

POWELL: We had a brief discussion about the conference that the United
Kingdom is planning to hold early in the New Year with Palestinian officials, but
we did not have a discussion about a broader international conference. What
we have to do is see the election take place on the 9th of January, watch how
the Palestinians form their government, and make sure that Israel shows
flexibility and cooperation with the Palestinians during this election period, get
ready for the next series of Palestinian elections, and we talked about
that. But we did not talk about, at this meeting, but we have talked previously,
about the utility of a conference at some point in the future.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, did you discuss…

POWELL: OK.

QUESTION: Did you discuss upcoming — your decision about Turkey’s
negotiation talks? And Mr. Foreign Minister, you said a few days ago that Turkey
should recognize the Armenian dead. If there is a refusal from Turkey, do you
think that should be a reason to end the negotiations? And what do you expect is
the decision on the 17th?

POWELL: We did discuss it. There is a historic opportunity coming up later
this week and the Minister is flying back to participate in these discussions,
but I think I will yield to him for his comment on this matter.

BARNIER: I’ll be leaving immediately, I mean, this evening, back to
Brussels, where I will be tomorrow and where the decision will be taken, this very
important decision to start the negotiation talks with Turkey. And as President
Chirac himself said this evening, we want to open the talks and our
ambition, of course, is to succeed and the outcome of the talks should be accession.
But we shouldn’t be complacent, rest on our laurels, or take any shortcuts in
the negotiation.

POWELL: One last one. Yeah.

QUESTION: Yes, Mr. Secretary, I would like to know what will be in your
memoirs about this relationship with this, let’s say, difficult French, and do
you feel relief or regrets not to see them anymore?

(Laughter.)

POWELL: Je ne regrette rien. Thank you. (Laughter.) I regret nothing.

I have given many speeches on this subject. The United States and France
have been friends and allies for well over two centuries. They were instrumental
in us achieving our independence. We came to Europe twice in the last
century to help our French friends. We will remain friends. We will remain allies.
We will have differences from time to time, and the disagreement that we had
last year, that was not the first time we have had disagreements and
differences with France or with our other European friends. And the values and the
ties that bring us together are far stronger than the disagreements that come
along from time to time. Merci.

BARNIER: And could I maybe just add a few words and say that — and recall
that I said earlier my — expressed my thanks and gratitude to Colin Powell
for the friendly relationship we’ve manage to establish over the last eight
months, but I also wanted to acknowledge his great awareness and understanding
of individuals and situations which was very valuable. But I — to complete —
to come to your point, I must say, of course, that there may be
disagreements, there may be talks, there may be differences amongst us but we should
never ever forget that France and the United States have been allies and friends
since the very beginning.

POWELL: Thank you.

END

12/16/04 11:58 EST