*EPF504 05/03/2002
White House Report, May 3: U.S.-Russia, Conference on Middle East, Spain
(Ari Fleischer briefed in morning and early afternoon) (880)

BUSH HOPES FOR MAY SIGNING OF U.S.-RUSSIA ACCORD REDUCING OFFENSIVE ARMS

President Bush met at the White House May 3 with Igor Ivanov, the foreign minister of Russia, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer reported.

They "discussed the president's hope to be able to reach reductions in offensive weapons agreement that would be signed at the president's meeting with (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin in Russia later this month," Fleischer said.

The two leaders also "discussed trade issues between the United States and Russia, as well as the upcoming meeting in Italy to discuss Russia's role within NATO," Fleischer added.

Asked about comments by Ivanov as he left the White House that there is a very high probability that there will be an agreement in time for the Moscow meeting, Fleischer said "across the board relations with Russia are very strong. President Bush has made a top priority of his administration, working very closely with President Putin on a range of issues involving proliferation, involving missile reductions, involving moving beyond the ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) treaty and helping Russia to look westward.

"The president is hopeful that an agreement can be reached that he will be able to sign when he arrives in Russia. There has been a lot of hard work done by the Russians and the Americans, and the president is hopeful."

But, said Fleischer, "any announcement of this type, any codification of this type has a lot of t's to be crossed and i's to be dotted. And that's what the lawyers and the negotiators are working on now."

Asked if Bush was open to the idea of the document being a treaty, Fleischer said Bush "has always been open to the form that it would take."

Earlier, in his morning meeting with reporters, Fleischer said "there's been dramatic progress and strengthening of the relationship between the United States and Russia -- between Russia and the West."

"As far as the reduction of offensive weapons," he said, "the president has made very clear that that is something that he intends to do because it's good for America, regardless of whatever form it takes in terms of codification of it. The president hopes that the meeting with Russia will allow it to be codified in paper form -- with some type of signing. We are working with the Russians toward that goal; we hope that will be the case."

DETAILS OF CONFERENCE ON THE MIDDLE EAST BEING DEVELOPED

Asked by reporters at his morning briefing to discuss the upcoming conference on the Middle East announced by Secretary of State Colin Powell at the State Department May 2, Fleischer said, "This is going to be a ministerial meeting, this summer, and the exact modalities are still being developed in terms of exactly who, exactly where -- that's being worked on as we speak."

The purpose of the meeting, Fleischer said, is to explore a wide variety of ideas: "many different people have different ideas, and this meeting will help develop those ideas as people are listened to and they have an opportunity to put their ideas on the table."

He said "the details are going to be done by the State Department. The State Department will work on the exact location, logistics, etc. "The secretary will be working on this international meeting. The secretary, at some point, will likely return to the region. But you will see multiple events at multiple levels with one goal. And that is, creating the political environment for peace -- for political agreements to be made."

At his midday briefing, Fleischer again discussed the upcoming meeting, saying it "is going to be a very helpful way to explore a variety of ideas that different people have for how to bring peace to the region. And the more people are focused on ideas to create peace as opposed to actions that lead to war, the president and the secretary believe the better off the prospects for arriving at peace will be."

The announcement of the upcoming meeting "was made at this time for the obvious reasons that the secretary was in a meeting with the quartet [of European Union, United Nations and Russian, plus U.S., leaders], which are some of the key leaders who the secretary has previously met with" on the Middle East, Fleischer said.

This group, Fleischer said, "has worked productively to try to bring ideas to the floor about how to achieve peace in the Middle East. So it was a natural place to do it."

BUSHES HOST SPAIN'S PRIME MINISTER AT CAMP DAVID

President and Mrs. Bush hosted the President of the Government of Spain Jose Maria Aznar and his wife at the U.S. presidential retreat, Camp David, in Maryland the night of May 3.

The two presidents were to discuss bilateral issues between the United States and Spain, the war against terrorism, as well as the upcoming NATO summit in the Czech Republic later this year, Fleischer said, and hold a joint press availability.

There will be a working breakfast in the morning, the White House said. Both couples are to depart Camp David in the late morning May 4.

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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