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The President: Well, I want
to welcome His Highness,
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the Amir of Qatar, for his first
visit to the Oval Office
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in his current position.
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The United States and Qatar
have a very strong
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security relationship.
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They are hosts to our
men and women in uniform.
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They are partners with us
on a whole range
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of security initiatives.
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And we also have an
extraordinary set of ties that
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are commercial, educational,
scientific, technological.
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And those benefit Qatar, they
benefit the United States.
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They create jobs
in both countries.
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And Qatar is a major investor
here in the United States,
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as well.
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We've had a wide-ranging
conversation
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on a host of regional issues.
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Qatar is a strong partner in
our coalition to degrade
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and ultimately defeat ISIL.
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And I expressed my appreciation
to His Highness for the work
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that they've done in
coordinating with other members
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of this coalition.
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We are both committed to making
sure that ISIL is defeated.
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We're both committed to making
sure that in Iraq there
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is an opportunity for all people
in that country --
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Sunni, Shia and Kurd -- to
live together in peace.
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We both are deeply concerned
about the situation in Syria.
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We'll continue to support the
moderate opposition there, and
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continue to believe that it
will not be possible to fully
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stabilize that country until
Mr. Assad, who has lost
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legitimacy in the country,
is transitioned out.
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How we get there obviously
is a source of extraordinary
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challenge, and we shared ideas
in terms of how that
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can be accomplished.
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We also had an opportunity to
discuss a wide range of other
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areas where there's significant
turmoil -- Libya, Yemen.
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And I think had a significant
meeting of the minds in our
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shared belief that the more
that we can work with all the
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countries in the region to try
to find political solutions
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to problems, the more that we
can reduce sectarian tensions
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in the regions and isolate violent extremists,
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the more effective we can be.
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And we also had a very useful
discussion around Iran and the
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negotiations that are currently
taking place to try to reduce
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the possibility of Iran
obtaining a nuclear weapon.
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Those negotiations are ongoing.
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I gave the Amir an update and
assured him that our goal here
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is to be able to verify that
Iran does not have a nuclear
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weapon, and that we will
continue to press Iran on some
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of its other actions in the
region that often have
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a destabilizing effect,
recognizing, however,
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that we would greatly prefer
to be able resolve many
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of these issues diplomatically.
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And I know that Doha
shares the same view.
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So, overall, I want to say
that this was an excellent
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conversation, and I think
His Highness has a deeper
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understanding of the United
States' concerns around these
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issues and our interests.
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I emphasized to him that
ultimately what the United
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States wants to see for all of
the Middle East and all of North
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Africa is circumstances in which
peace and security prevail,
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and that people --
particularly young people --
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have the opportunity to
learn, to get educated,
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and to succeed in this
modern economy.
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Qatar is an extraordinary
example of that, partly because
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it's been blessed by natural
resources, but also because it's
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made good decisions about
how to develop its economy.
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And hopefully that kind of
prosperity can be spread more
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widely in the years to come,
and I look forward
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to being a partner with
Qatar in making that happen.
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So, Your Highness,
thank you very much.
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Welcome.
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Hold on a sec.
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Amir Tamim: In
Arabic or English?
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The President:
Whatever you prefer.
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Amir Tamim: Mr. President,
thank you very much for having
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me at the White House. I'm very
happy to be here.
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I'm not going to repeat what you
said, Mr. President, but things
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that I really want to say is
how important the relationship
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between Qatar and the
United States of America,
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and how to develop the strategic
relations that we have.
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You mentioned that we have a
strong relation in military
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and security, and also we
have an excellent relation
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in education, as well, and other
things as well.
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As we mentioned before, we
are investing in this country.
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We believe in the
economy of this country
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and the future of this country.
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So this is something very
important, as well, for us.
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We are all concerned on
what's going on in our region.
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You mentioned the countries
that we spoke about.
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Yes, we are concerned about it
-- we are concerned, as well,
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about the terrorist
groups in our region.
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I think we all share the same
view, the reason why those
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terrorist groups are
growing in our region.
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And we have to make sure that
to solve this problem we are all
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fighting terrorism -- and it's a
must -- is to make sure that
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the reason why this happened
doesn't happen again,
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because it happened years ago
and it's happening again now.
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We mentioned about the situation
in Palestine, and about the
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peace process and what is
the best for Palestine.
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And it is the important subject
in the Middle East, and we have
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to find a solution
for Palestine.
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And I'm happy to learn and to
hear from you, President, that
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you are committed to find this
peace process in Palestine.
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I don't want to take --
you mentioned everything,
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Mr. President, so
thank you very much.
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I'm very happy to be here, sir.
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The President:
Thank you so much.
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Thank you everybody.
