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President Bush Discusses G8 Summit and MEM Leaders Meeting
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary July 9, 2008

President Bush Discusses G8 Summit and MEM Leaders Meeting Windsor Hotel
Toya Resort and Spa Toyako, Japan

˙ /news/releases/2008/07/20080709-4.wm.v.html ˙˙Presidential Remarks
˙˙Audio ˙˙Photos

˙˙˙˙˙ G8 Summit 2008

4:22 P.M. (Local)

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. We've just finished our meetings
here in Japan. I would call them very productive.

Our goal was to make progress in five key areas: confronting climate
change, reinforcing our commitment to a successful Doha agreement, fighting
disease in Africa, ensuring that the G8 nations are accountable for their
commitments, and addressing the challenges of high food and energy prices.
I'm pleased to report that we've had significant success in all of them.

On climate change, I want to thank the Prime Minister for hosting today's
meeting of leaders from the world's major economies. In order to address
climate change, all major economies must be at the table. And that's what
took place today. The G8 expressed our desire to have a -- a significant
reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050. We made it clear and the other
nations agreed that they must also participate in an ambitious goal, with
interim goals and interim plans to enable the world to successfully address
climate change. And we made progress, significant progress, toward a
comprehensive approach.

One way to meet objectives is to invest in technology, both at the national
and international levels, both through the private and public sectors. The
United States, Japan, and United Kingdom launched what's called a Clean
Technology Fund, and we hope Congress funds that effort. It's a way to help
developing nations afford the technologies so that they can become good
stewards of the environment.

We're also taking steps to promote clean technologies by cooperating on
research and development. You know, I firmly believe that we can become
less dependent on oil through new technology, and obviously we're going to
have to spend some money on research and development to be able to achieve
that objective.

On other matters, the G8 leaders emphasized the critical importance of
concluding a Doha Round. We want the world to trade freely. We want to make
sure markets are open for agricultural goods and manufacturing goods and
services. We also recognize that the best way to help alleviate poverty is
through trade. And so we had good discussions over the past couple of days
about successfully completing the Doha Round by the end of this year.

We also made some progress on alleviating sickness in Africa. The G8
committed $60 billion over five years to fight HIV/AIDS and other diseases.
I'm also pleased to report the G8 leaders pledged to provide 100 million
long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets by 2010 to help deal with
malaria. As you know, the United States has been in the forefront of trying
to help nations eradicate malaria, and the G8 nations stepped forward to
support our efforts. And I appreciate that very much.

We also committed with partner nations in Africa to train new health care
workers. Can't solve health care problems unless there's health care
workers on the ground. And the United States is involved with that. And
finally, we are working to expand our efforts to treat key neglected
tropical diseases, with the goal of reaching 75 percent of victims in the
most affected countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America within five
years. In other words, we had a comprehensive agenda on helping those who
are being affected by disease live healthy lives.

I've always believed to whom much is given much is required. The nations
sitting around the table have got much, and I think we're required to help
those who don't. Pledges are important. Those have been -- you know,
oftentimes in the political process people talk big, but they never follow
up. And so one of the key ingredients of these recent meetings was all of
us need to be reminded that when we say we're going to do something, we got
to do it. And so accountability is an important part of fulfilling our
obligations.

We agreed to release detailed reports on our progress in meeting the
commitments, breaking down our efforts, country by country, disease by
disease. This, of course, will help ensure the G8 initiatives are
measurable and transparent, so that we're held accountable for the promises
we make.

And finally, we agreed on steps to deal with hunger and high energy prices.
We agreed to meet short-term food needs by providing emergency food
shipments, and increasing access to fertilizer and seeds, and encouraging
other nations to eliminate their export restrictions. We also agreed on
steps to relieve hunger in the longer-term, including working to double
production of key food staples in several African countries, accelerating
access to new agricultural technology such as new seed varieties developed
through bio-technology. We're also seeking to increase the amount of food
aid supplied by local producers. In other words, instead of the United
States just simply giving food, we ought to be buying food from local
producers so that they can develop their own agricultural industries, so to
help deal with world hunger.

We also agreed that on high energy prices that we got to deal with both on
the supply and demand. On the supply side, oil and production refining
capacity need to be increased. And the United States needs to do its part.
The Democratic leaders in Congress will not allow us to explore for oil and
gas in parts of Alaska, offshore America, and now is the time for them to
change their mind. We also -- I'm firmly -- believe that we can do this
kind of exploration in environmentally friendly ways.

On the demand side, we agreed to take new steps to increase energy
efficiency, and we agreed that fuel subsidies that artificially inflate
demand should be eliminated or reduced.

In other words, this was a -- you know, a lot of meetings on important
subjects, and we accomplished a lot. By protecting our environment and
resisting protectionism and fighting disease and promoting development and
improving the daily life for millions around the world, we serve both our
interests as Americans, and we serve the interest of the world.

We've enjoyed our stay here in Japan. I want to thank the Prime Minister
once again for his grand hospitality. And I appreciate you all covering
this summit. Thank you very much.

END 4:30 P.M. (Local)

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