ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE - President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki will meet next week in Jordan to discuss the security situation in
Iraq.
President Bush speaks after a breakfast with troops at Hickam
Air Force Base in Honolulu, Hawaii, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2006.
[AP]
|
In a joint statement, the two
leaders said: "We will meet in Amman, Jordan, on Nov. 29-30 to continue our
consultation on building security and stability in Iraq."
Press secretary Tony Snow distributed the statement to reporters returning
home with Bush on Tuesday from an eight-day Asia trip.
Bush will fly directly to Amman from the NATO summit in Rega, Latvia.
"We will focus our discussions on current developments in Iraq, progress made
to date in the deliberations of a high-level joint committee on transferring
security responsibilities and the role of the region in supporting Iraq," the
statement said.
"We reiterate our commitment to building the foundations of a peaceful,
democratic and secure Iraq and to strengthening the partnership between our two
nations," the statement said.
The two leaders also said they look forward to meeting Jordan's King Abdullah
II.
Bush and al-Maliki last met July 25 in Washington.
National security adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters that when the two
leaders meet in Jordan, "We're not looking for a big, bold announcement."
The meeting will allow a joint commission established to examine how to speed
up the transition from coalition to Iraqi security forces to report to Bush and
al-Maliki, Hadley said.
"It will also be an opportunity for the president and the prime minister to
review the situation in Iraq more generally and talk about the way forward in
order to accomplish ... move toward our objectives in an expeditious way," he
said.
The idea for a meeting came up a week or more ago, and plans accelerated in
the last few days, Hadley said.