President Bush meets with SecGen Ban Ki-Moon – White House press release/Non-UN document (excerpts)

President Bush Meets with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
The Oval Office

PRESIDENT BUSH: Mr. Secretary General, welcome. The last time I visited with you in this Oval Office, you were the Foreign Minister of an important country. Now you come representing the United Nations, and I welcome you. Thank you for your willingness to serve. Thank you for this very important discussion we just had. I appreciate so very much how you opened up the discussion with a strong commitment to democracy and freedom. And the United States is willing — wants to work with the United Nations to achieve a peace through the spread of freedom.

And I want to thank you very much for the wise advice that you have given on a variety of issues. We talked about the Middle East, of course, and the importance of the Quartet. …

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SECRETARY GENERAL KI-MOON: …

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I hope to work very closely with the U.S. government, including Mr. President, in realizing and obtaining this shared goal. As I start my new administration as Secretary General, I get to have strong commitment and support from U.S. government, and I'm committed to devote all my time and energy to the address — to address all these important issues — Middle East, and Darfur, Lebanon, and Somalia, North Korea, Millennium Development Goals and climate changes. All are global issues, which require global, collective wisdom and effort.