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PRESIDENT BUSH: It's good to be with a friend, Shinzo Abe. We recently met at Camp David,
and now we have a -- we were on the phone since then, and now we have a chance to further
our discussions.
We talked about a lot of subjects. Particularly we talked about North Korea. There is a common
message here, and that is, we expect the North Koreans to honor agreements. And it's very
important for the Japanese people to know that I strongly support Shinzo Abe's desire
to deal with this very important issue of -- the abduction issue.
Likewise, we had an extensive discussion about energy and climate change. I reminded the
Prime Minister that his great country and great economy is going to lead the way when
it comes -- along with the United States, in leading the way coming to develop technologies
that will enable us to be -- change our energy habits, and at the same time be good stewards
of the environment. And we discussed ways to develop a framework that has
the flexibility, and at the same time, the goals so
we can encourage the world to move in that direction.
It's good to be
with a friend.
PRIME MINISTER ABE: (As translated.) This is the sixth time that I'm having discussions
with George, and as we always do, this time we were able to have a very frank exchange
of views on many things. On North Korea, unfortunately, the North Koreans have not done anything to
implement the initial actions. And also on the issue of abduction, they have not taken
any sincere actions to resolve that issue. So we agreed that the G8 leaders need to send
a strong message to North Korea on these issues. And also on the abduction issue, I explained
the Japanese position to George once again, and I was able to gain his understanding on
this issue, as he has always shown understanding.
On climate change, I explained the Japanese proposal to the President, and we agreed that
Japan and the United States would be working together for the creation of an effective
framework which is flexible, and that we would be cooperating to achieve that end in the
future.
We reconfirmed the fact that the alliance we have between Japan and the United States
in dealing with issues like North Korea and climate change is truly an alliance for Asia
and an alliance for the entire world, for that matter.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you, sir. Thank you all very much.
