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MR. REEKER: I do want to, at the top, express my personal thanks and sincere appreciation for the absolutely fantastic job that Jefferson Brown has done for us as director of the Washington Foreign Press Center and part of our team in the Bureau of Public Affairs at the State Department.
This Foreign Press Center is a very important part of our work in public diplomacy, in trying to meet the needs of you, our journalists, so that we can take the word forth to your audiences, the public around the world, in countries where you report, as well as here in Washington.
And so Jeff has done an absolutely outstanding job, and I'm very pleased to welcome Paul aboard now to be director of the Washington center to keep this great process going. And I pledge to try to continue coming over here as often as I can, as well as visiting our centers in New York and Los Angeles, so that we can make ourselves available and take any of your questions.
And, with that, why don't we start? Who would like to start? Goyal, please go right ahead. And introduce yourself. Don't forget.
Q Raghubir Goyal, Asia Today Can you confirm that Secretary of State is going to India and Pakistan after or before -- after your meetings this month?
MR. REEKER: Yes. The secretary himself said that in his testimony on Capitol Hill a couple of days ago, that he plans to visit India and Pakistan. That would most likely be on his way to Brunei. He still plans to attend the ASEAN regional forum. But we'll have to get back to you with details of that travel, but that is his expectation. I just don't have exact dates or itineraries at this point.
Q And the reason at this time that he's going to the region is because tension is high, low?
MR. REEKER: I think the secretary wants to take the opportunity to continue our engagement with both the government of India and the government of Pakistan. We have strong bilateral relationships with both countries, a lot of things to talk about, as well as regional issues, and to continue seeing a lessening of tensions between India and Pakistan, where there still, as you know, remain a number of soldiers along the line of control, along the borders.
It's still a tense situation. And we want to see, of course, issues there resolved through dialogue, peacefully. And our engagement with both governments is part of that, part of diplomacy. And we'll continue to stress the need for dialogue and peaceful resolution of issues when the secretary meets in those two capitals.
Q And finally, one more on visa problems. I have heard said in the State Department also in the past several times that visa problems in India and Pakistan, visas have been sold (on an illegal basis there ?). But now the story has come out in several other countries. My question is especially on the Pakistani 132 that were deported from here.
MR. REEKER: That's an INS issue. They were sent out -- in fact, I believe in late June the INS put out a statement on that flight that was arranged to return Pakistani nationals who were illegally in the United States, to return them to Pakistan. So I refer you over to the INS, where they can give you the details of those flights.
Q (Inaudible.) -- arrested in connection with the -- (inaudible).
MR. REEKER: I'd refer you to the FBI or others, law enforcement agencies. It was not a State Department issue in that regard.
Let's go all the way to the back and my friend from ANSA.
Q I wanted to ask you for an update on the quartet. There was a report today that it was postponed till Tuesday, and it was postponed in order to make it possible for members of the quartet to meet with some Arab foreign ministers. Could you give an update on that?
MR. REEKER: We have been talking for a while about a meeting of the quartet. That is the group that originally met in Madrid that is working together on the Middle East peace process -- Secretary Powell, of course, representing the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union all participating.
We've been looking at scheduling that early next week. There will be on Tuesday -- that's the day we've been able to pin down -- where the ministers from that group will be able to get together in New York. But I don't have a time yet exactly, but Tuesday is the day. So Secretary Powell expects to travel up to New York on Tuesday and back Tuesday night.
In terms of other meetings, I just don't have any other details at this point. We've been talking, as we do regularly, with foreign ministers from a number of Arab countries about possibilities there, but I don't have any particular meetings to announce at this point.
The president, as the White House said earlier today, did speak today with President Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan as part of his regular dialogue with leaders in the region as well.
Yes, sir.
Q Jay Chen, Central News Agency, Taiwan. I know that this may be a little bit early, but as you know, President Jiang Zemin of China is going to come to the United States in October. I'm just wondering whether you can talk about any high-level visits in either direction to lay the groundwork for that visit. And also I'm wondering whether you can talk about some of the issues, topics that might be on the agenda. Thank you.
MR. REEKER: I think you were right in the beginning of your question. It's a little bit early to do that. But I know there's an expectation of that visit in terms of prior visits. I'd refer you to the Chinese embassy in terms of anything preparatory to something like that. And I just don't have anything to announce or confirm at this point. It's just a little bit early looking at that.
But obviously, when we have visits, part of our overall diplomacy with China, it's a very important opportunity to discuss the tremendous number of bilateral issues, two very big countries with interests around the world and a strong and complex bilateral relationship in so many levels.
And so we use the opportunity of visits to deal with a number of issues, regional issues and also the war on terrorism globally, where China has participated, has helped in that effort in a number of ways, just as so many other countries around the world have. So as we get closer to that, I'm sure we'll be able to provide more information. And the Chinese embassy, I'm sure, will be available to as well.
Over here.
Q Andrei Sitov from TASS, the Russian news agency. I have a question about Iraq. Is it true that you asked the Polish diplomat from your interest section in Baghdad to leave the country? If so, then why?
MR. REEKER: In fact, let me get the details of that, because there was some confusion over that issue. As you know, our interests, United States interests in Iraq, are represented by Poland. Poland is the protecting power for the United States in Baghdad, and there are Polish diplomats who operate the U.S. interest section out of the Polish embassy in Baghdad.
With respect to the travel of some Polish diplomats, we need to go back and look at what happened in April of this year, when the Iraqi government imposed a new ban on overland travel abroad by Polish diplomats who were assigned to the U.S. interest section in Baghdad that was tightening the already-rigid restrictions on those diplomats in terms of movements out of the city.
Because of this overland travel ban, it forced the diplomatic personnel, the Polish diplomats assigned to the U.S. interest section, to travel to and from Iraq as passengers on air flights in and out of Iraq. And that would be in contravention of United Nations resolutions, as you are aware, because resolutions at the U.N. only permit humanitarian flights to go in and out of Iraq, not commercial air traffic.
Now, we have demanded -- again, through the Polish embassy, our interest section there in Baghdad -- first in April, and again this month, in July, that the Iraqi government lift those restrictions, which have prevented the personnel from undertaking their own legitimate personal travel, for instance, to go home for a visit in Poland. We haven't received any response from the Iraqis on that, so we are reviewing appropriate steps and how we will deal with that.
But these personnel from the interest section, who have traveled, were sort of trapped in Baghdad under these tight regulations that the Iraqis had imposed. They did depart. Some of them departed from Baghdad on air flights to Jordan. It was a U.N.-approved humanitarian flight that was returning from Baghdad after carrying humanitarian cargo to Iraq, and so they flew that. It was an opportunity for them to travel. They had been trapped there, obviously, for some time due to the regulation that they couldn't get overland to Amman.
Q (Off mike.)
MR. REEKER: I'm not sure how many. The Poles continue to act as our protecting power in Baghdad, in Iraq. And so that continues to be --
Q (Off mike.)
MR. REEKER: That continues to be the situation in Baghdad. And I believe in Washington, the Iraqis are represented by Pakistan as their protecting power.
Q If I may, on a different subject, about the Chechens, the Russian government today announced that they have issued international warrants for arrest of about 30 Chechen leaders. Would the American administration be willing to honor those warrants if they knew these people come here?
MR. REEKER: I don't know. I'm not aware of that. This is something that the Justice Department would have to look at. But I'm not aware of the specifics of the report or who it involved. So we'll have to check into that later.
Sir.
Q Michael Maxey (sp), German business daily -- (inaudible). The president of the European Parliament, Pat Cox, yesterday reiterated the European position for an international peace conference in the Middle East. The president, as we all know, has mentioned that in his speech. Would you exclude such an international conference? And, if not, could you say anything about a possible time frame?
MR. REEKER: I think it's something that you've heard Secretary Powell discuss. Months ago we had looked at the possibility of having some kind of a ministerial-level conference as early as this summer, which, of course, we're in now. The secretary said more recently that the situation just has not been right for that at this point, but it's something we'd still consider later. I don't have anything new to offer in terms of plans for that.
Obviously, at the quartet meeting that we just discussed that'll be held in New York on Tuesday, the ministers, the ministerial level, including Secretary Powell, will have an opportunity to review where we stand in terms of the president's strategy that was outlined, in terms of how we move forward, in terms of our willingness to help the Palestinian people reach their goal of having a state, living side by side in peace with Israel.
Again, the way forward for all the parties is to heed President Bush's call, the message in his speech of June 24th. And so those are the types of things we'll continue to discuss at all levels of diplomacy and the types of meetings we'll have in New York on Tuesday, but nothing I could offer on -- (inaudible).
Right here.
Q Yeah, Anthony Cipher (sp) with the Yomiuri Shimbun. Can you give us a readout on yesterday's meeting from London with Ms. Cheney?
MR. REEKER: I don't have a lot of details on that meeting. As Anthony is referring to, our deputy assistant secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Liz Cheney, was in London on Wednesday, yesterday, meeting with representatives from the quartet group, plus a representative of Japan, Norway, the World Bank, the IMF, to continue discussions on how to advance Palestinian institutional reform. And those were discussions that were worked on last week when Assistant Secretary Burns also traveled to Europe.
And I do expect Deputy Assistant Secretary Cheney back today, but I haven't gotten any particular readout. This is in the context of the international task force on reform, which was talked about last week after Assistant Secretary Burns' meetings in Europe with the quartet and the donor community.
Those people that are involved in this process have looked at identifying areas for priority in terms of the donor assistance and reform, reflecting certainly President Bush's desire to see what we can do to help the Palestinian people. And he made that quite clear in his June speech. So I'll speak tomorrow if we have more after Ms. Cheney is back from her trip to London.
Q Can I follow up?
MR. REEKER: Yeah, sure.
Q Thomas Gorguissian, El Wafd, Egypt. Regarding the quartet, I mean, I need some clarification. On Tuesday it is going to be one- day meeting?
MR. REEKER: I think that's the expectation. I expect Secretary Powell to go to New York and come back, all on Tuesday.
Q There is any plan to make a readout out of it, press conference or something like that?
MR. REEKER: I'm sure there will be -- something will be able to give you a readout. I just don't have any details yet. We've gotten as far as pinning down Tuesday. In terms of the details, I'm sure we'll announce it, certainly from our part, from the State Department, as soon as we have something.
Q What was done yesterday in London, it's part of this task force meeting?
MR. REEKER: That's a follow-on to the meetings last week that were also in Europe on the task force looking at reform.
Q What about Tuesday meeting? Do you have any kind of agenda? Is it political issues, economic issues, or just general?
MR. REEKER: It's a ministerial-level meeting, obviously, with Secretary Powell and his counterparts, continuing on the earlier meetings that they've had in that capacity. I think it's probably better to wait and we'll try to put out some sort of notice when we have more details on it and perhaps be able to describe the agenda.
But I think the basic strategy that the president has outlined in terms of what we want to see for the Middle East, including an independent Palestinian state, the need for new leadership, and all of this is what he outline June 24th, is the type of thing that we're discussing -- that the secretary's been discussing in his phone calls, that the president discusses in his phone calls how we can move forward with that strategy, because there is broad international consensus, I think, and support for the president's vision of the two states, side- by-side, with secure and recognized borders, and recognition of the urgent need for reform of Palestinian institutions and the economy, and the need for free and fair elections. So, they will continue discussions in that vein.
Q I mean, I know that it was last week a lot of questions about -- what is the -- I mean, what's the update with the in touch with the Palestinian Authority, the latest, I mean? Is there any new meeting between Ron Schlecter (sp) and anybody of those people?
MR. REEKER: I know that our diplomats, certainly on the ground, keep in touch with a broad array of Palestinians. I don't have any specific readouts of who Consul General Schlecter (sp) has met with in the past few days. I can certainly look into that kind of thing, but we continue to have a broad and active dialogue with a variety of Palestinians in keeping with the president's call for the need for new leadership, for reform of those institutions, so that they can really make a difference for the Palestinian people, and so that they can prepare the Palestinians for the state that the president has talked about. Mr. Lambros.
Q Lambros Papantoniou, -- (Inaudible) --Greek Daily, Athens. Mr. Reeker, do you have anything to say about the ongoing on Greek investigations from -- (inaudible) -- terrorist organization, any comment -- (inaudible) --
MR. REEKER: As I told you yesterday, I don't have anything more than what Ambassador Boucher talked about earlier in the week, so we can get you the transcript of his remarks, the importance of cooperation on the issue of terrorism. That's certainly a terrorist organization that we've talked about in our own pattern of global terrorism report, and I just refer you back to his lines for the latest.
Q One more question?
MR. REEKER: Uh-huh.
Q (Inaudible) -- deadlock and the date expired was June 30th to find a solution and did you make any additional effort behind the scenes in order for those two sides to go forward to find a solution by the end of this year -- (inaudible) --
MR. REEKER: As you know, we support the U.N. process. We think that's the way to work on this issue and we continue to support that. I think it's more important to focus on the goal than worrying about specific dates necessarily. One wants to try to move this process along, but we'll leave it for the U.N. and to continue to support that process.
Q Phil?
MR. REEKER: Yes? Sure.
Q The secretary today, when he was on the Hill in front of the House select committee, he said that after 9/11 there were a number of countries that the U.S. approached and said, "You have to do something about terrorism. We'll help you. We'll give you information and what have you." Was Greece one of those?
MR. REEKER: I couldn't tell you specifically. We've had an ongoing relationship with Greece and many countries in terms of counter-terrorism that goes back long before 9/11. So, in terms of exactly what the secretary was referencing, I'd have to check into that specifically. But as -- as you're well aware, since 9/11 and since the coalition has come together working against terrorism globally, we've been working with so many countries, and every country has been able to offer their own support in different ways using a variety of different tools that we need to use fighting terrorism, not just militarily, but information and intelligence sharing, law enforcement activities -- you've seen the arrests around the world -- and very importantly the financial actions that we've seen under U.N. resolutions and other steps. So all of that is very important, including Greece's steps and it's really up to every country to do what they can in that, you know, variety of ways that we're doing fighting terrorism.
Yes.
Q I wonder about --
MR. REEKER: Go ahead and then we'll come back to you.
Q Simone -- (inaudible) -- I wondered if you expect that consular services will be taken out of the State Department and put into homeland security, and if not, why? Why should the State Department keep it?
MR. REEKER: Well, if you listened to what the secretary had to say on the Hill, that's probably the best thing. He was just there, as your colleague indicated, testifying today before the House Select Committee on Homeland Security. And if you look at the president's legislation that we sent to the Hill, the goal, is to transfer some of the legal authority that the Justice Department now has in terms of immigration matters, and visa issuance, those legal authorities transferred to the new department of homeland security while keeping the visa issuance authority, the visa issuance process within the State Department, where the consular offices who perform these services has a unique expertise not only in knowing the ins and outs of visa law, the details of issuance, but also having the context of working within the foreign environment, the language, the knowledge of the local culture and condition so that those consular officers can make those determinations.
And I would just remind you that every visa of the millions of visas issued every year, and the even more millions of visas applied for overseas, every one of those must be approved by an American citizen, a United States consular officer. And every one of those applications must be passed through a name-check system. And we've talked at great length about the changes since September 11th in terms of making sure that all the information available to the United States government, to our intelligence and law enforcement community is shared fully also with the State Department and the name-check database, and that database had doubled in terms of its content since September 11th, and our ability to make sure we have the most up-to- date information that can be added to the consular officers' knowledge as they go through the process of reviewing every visa application.
I would remind people, because I know there's a lot of confusion about it, and some of you may be more aware of it than your colleagues that are domestic reporters here in this country, every one that applies for a visa to visit the United States, no matter what the category of that visa, is presumed to be an impending immigrant under our law, under the law of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and they must overcome that presumption and show to the consular officer that they have binding and considerable ties to their home country through work, through financial means, through family to demonstrate that they are not impending immigrants to the United States and in fact are coming for the purpose that's described in their visa application.
So it's a very high standard to -- to get over. And all of you who are foreign journalists working in the United States are aware of the process that one goes through in terms of obtaining a visa to come here for whatever purpose, that it's an important thing because our country needs to be open for commerce, for trade, for exchanges, for the types of work you do, coming to cover news and the society here in the United States. We think that's a very important thing, but security is also a vitally important thing to us, and 9/11 illustrated that to us. So we have to take every precaution that we can.
And as Secretary Powell said on the Hill today, that function remains best operating through the State Department, through the consular service, as it has, and constantly reviewing where we can do things better, how we can better share information, and that's something we certainly do, and our training for consular officers is something we're always reviewing as well to make security the number one priority.
So, I think we have every confidence that that is the process that needs to continue, and keeping with the president's proposal in terms of the immigration service being part of the office of the department of homeland security. Remember, those immigration officers are another level of checks. You can apply for a visa. If you make the criteria, if you overcome the presumption to be issued a visa to the United States, you then must present that visa to the immigration officer upon arrival at the point of entry to the United States. So, it's a very rigorous process, and that's the way we intend to keep it.
Yes?
Q : (Inaudible) --
MR. REEKER: If he wants to follow-up, let's do that first. Yeah, sure. Hold on just a second, and get the mike. And then we'll go back.
Q From what I got from the answer is that so there is nothing is going to be changed in the process, it's just sharing the responsibilities between State Department and homeland security department?
MR. REEKER: The president's proposal, the legislation that has been submitted to Congress in terms of creating the office, the department of homeland security. It says, and you can get the text of that legislation, it says the legal authority for issuance of visas, and it has to be done under the Immigration and Nationality Act that's part of our law. Those legal authorities, many of them rest now with the Department of Justice. That legal authority would shift to the department of homeland security so that they can review the law and where any changes need to be made in how the regulations are issued. Implementing that law and issuing the visas, carrying out that function, would remain a function for the Department of State, for the consular officers, and then working, of course, closely with law enforcement and intelligence in terms of making sure we have the best information available to make those consular decisions about issuing visas and reviewing security aspects and then working with immigration authorities, who the new law proposes would shift into the department of homeland security because they're the ones that actually allow you to enter the country upon presentation of your visa.
Q Okay. Thank you.
Q Thank you. Catherine Drew with the SABC, South Africa Broadcasting. I understand Secretary Powell will be making a speech tomorrow on sustainable development, laying out the U.S. vision. I'm just wondering, is that message -- is that a message he will be taking to Johannesburg for the summit in August? Has the level of delegation been decided for that?
MR. REEKER: I don't want to make any announcements on that. I think I'd rather let you listen to the secretary's speech tomorrow. He will be speaking at Meridian House, and I think we've put out a notice, or we're about to, on how you can cover that. I think the space is very limited there, but we'll be bringing a live feed of that speech in here to the Foreign Press Center, so I would just recommend that you watch that tomorrow and we'll see what he has to say.
Q Is he -- is he likely to be announcing whether he's going or not?
MR. REEKER: I will just let him speak and not try to preview or make any decisions that he has to live up to or not. I'll let him do that himself.
Q I know a lot of other world leaders have already bought their tickets. I'm just wondering, does the U.S. have concerns about the agenda for this obviously late decision with the delegation?
MR. REEKER: I just don't have anything to announce for you on that. I haven't seen any final decisions on that, and when we are ready to announce something about that, we will get to it in due course.
Q Okay. Finally, can I just ask you, what -- I may have missed this, so apologies, but I didn't see any official U.S. reaction to the creation of the African Union. How is that being perceived here?
MR. REEKER: We did do that. My colleague, my boss, Ambassador Boucher did that, I believe, when I may have been on vacation, but it's something that we talked about, I think on Monday. But certainly we have applauded the participants' efforts to improve their -- the coordination and cooperation. When they met in Durbin and announced that they were going to replace the OAU with this new African Union, we applauded that, and the Secretary -- Secretary Powell himself has endorsed in the past the idea of a more unified Africa, and we recognize that this has been a dream of many Africans for many years, and we wish them all success in their endeavors. We certainly have had cooperation across the board with the peoples of Africa in areas of human rights, poverty alleviation, health, conflict resolution and democratization. Those are issues that are of importance to us. Africa is a priority for us. The president has spoken about that. I believe that the White House has announced that the president plans his own travel early next year. And so we'll continue to engage with those countries and wish them will in this new African Union.
Yes.
Q Yes. I'm -- (inaudible) --
MR. REEKER: How did I guess? I knew it was -- (inaudible) --
Q Oh, okay. Well, for many Venezuelans, it was predictable that former President Carter, as dialogue facilitator, would reach anything. The opposition refused any contact with President Chavez, and President Chavez refused any role of the OAS as a dialogue facilitator. There is another proposal from your government, or it still exists in the OAS role as a facilitator?
MR. REEKER: Well, we've certainly worked very closely with the OAS. The entire community, the hemispheric community has worked with the OAS. And we've consistently encouraged Venezuelans, all Venezuelans, to engage in a genuine dialogue, a full dialogue, on the issues. We've welcomed the effort, including those of former President Carter, to assist Venezuela to begin meaningful talks to foster the dialogue necessary for national reconciliation. We certainly have noted today's marking of the events of April 11th, which --
Q But if there is no agreement --
MR. REEKER: -- which reminds us that we need to -- the importance of dialogue and peaceful resolution of conflict.
Referring to what you said in terms of the OAS, they have offered to assist Venezuela to facilitate the dialogue in Venezuela. It's an offer that was endorsed by all OAS member countries, including Venezuela, if you'll recall, and it was first made April 18th in the OAS Special General Assembly resolution on Venezuela. It was reiterated in the General Assembly's Declaration on Democracy. And it called -- harkened back directly to the Inter-American Democratic Charter that we have been so proud of, that provides a road map for support and strengthening of the essential elements of democracy in Venezuela. And that continues to be something we support. The OAS says they stand by their offer to offer the expertise that they have, the resources they have to assist the Venezuelans in this effort. And so we continue to think that that's a good idea because we want to encourage peaceful, democratic, constitutional resolution of the current political difficulties, and the offer by the OAS is there, it remains, it stands, it's on the table and we think it's a good one.
Q But if President Chavez still refuses, there is not any other proposal?
MR. REEKER: Well, I can't speak for President Chavez. I can't speak for the people of Venezuela. But what we've said --
Q No, no, no. No, no, no. I mean from your government, not from Venezuela.
MR. REEKER: What we've said is what I just repeated for you, is that here is this opportunity. It's an opportunity that was embraced by Venezuela as well when the OAS passed its resolution on that. And we think it's a good thing. We remain committed to promoting the dialogue there, to achieving national reconciliation. And we're going to continue to engage with all parties in Venezuela and encourage that peaceful, democratic process that's necessary to deal with the political difficulties there.
Yes.
Q My name is -- (inaudible) -- Venezuela.
Yesterday Assistant Secretary of State Reich in Brazil expressed that the need for Colombian-bordering countries to support Plan Colombia. Back in February, Secretary of State Colin Powell said that the U.S. government was not satisfied with Venezuelan government's support to the war against terrorism. Can you tell me, has this vision changed over the last month? Do you believe that relations have improved here in the last month between the U.S. and Venezuela?
MR. REEKER: I don't know if I could make a sort of general characterization of it. We have a strong history with Venezuela of strong and important ties at so many levels -- culturally, diplomatically, economically -- and that's important to us. We have expressed in the past some of our concerns about statements that came out of Venezuela regarding the war on terrorism, regarding support for Plan Colombia or the broader regional initiatives in terms of our coutnernarcotics efforts, as well as our counterterrorism efforts. And that's something that we continue to work on.
Our embassy has active in Caracas, engaging with Venezuelans across a broad spectrum -- the variety of parties there. We have continually encouraged what I just said earlier (in reference to ?) your colleague's question -- that is, dialogue, a democratic process, a constitutional resolution to the difficulties that Venezuela, itself, is having. And I think the Venezuelan people have demonstrated their desire to move ahead and deal with some of these processes. And we think that a dialogue is the best way to do that.
Certainly, in the broader context, every country has responsibilities, obligations in the war against terrorism to do what they can, using the variety of tools I spoke of earlier, to fight terrorism, which is a scourge for all of us. So that's something we continue to do, as well as our continued interest in the Andean Regional Initiative and support for Colombia's -- for Plan Colombia. So those are all things that are still important to us. They are high priorities in our -- in the administration's foreign policy, and we'll continue to work on that.
Q Follow up?
MR. REEKER: Sure. (Inaudible.)
Q This is Nesari Kela (ph). I'm AP reporter for Latin America.
And as you may know, there are many options being considered for a solution in Venezuela (I have ?) on that specific question. One of that option would be a referendum on whether Mr. Chavez should finish or no his term in office. Would the U.S. administration support that option?
MR. REEKER: That's an issue for Venezuela. That's an internal issue. As I said earlier, we try to remain in touch with all parties in Venezuela. Our respect and support for the rights of all Venezuelans to express their political views, exercise their fundamental liberties, that's an important aspect. We continually urge Venezuelans to make sure that a constitutional process, a democratic process is the way to go, and that's what we would support. That's why dialogue and national reconciliation is so important. And that's why we support the efforts of the OAS, as Venezuela itself supported the OAS resolution. (We ?) do that, but those are decisions that are going to have to be made by the people of Venezuela through those appropriate democratic processes.
Yes?
Q Thank you. (Name and affiliation inaudible), Peru. There was some information coming from Lima, Peru, regarding training that Peruvian officials from the Air Force will get here in the United States under the interdiction program. So, I would like to know if this training is still going on? And when are you going to -- or the State Department is going to announce the re-establishment of this interdiction program?
MR. REEKER: Well, I don't -- I don't know. I know we talked about our plan, along with Peru and the other countries of the region, to reinstitute the interdiction program, which we suspended after the extremely unfortunate shootdown of the civilian plane some months ago. And what we were doing was putting into place the processes necessary to make sure that we were taking every precaution against that. So, I don't have any more details on a timeline for that. It's something we can continue to check into, but I haven't had an update on that any time recently, and I'm just not sure of any particular training program. It's something that we could look into and talk to our International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau about. I'm happy to try to have some of the folks here follow up on that for you, but I just don't have any new information on it.
Q Thanks. I ask that question because Secretary -- (inaudible) -- said that month ago.
MR. REEKER: Yeah.
Q So, this would be the time when this organization will be here for training, but I'm not sure.
MR. REEKER: Okay. Let's check into that for you. It's not something I had looked into particularly, but we can check and see if they have any information for you.
We'll go to the gentleman here. Wait a minute. You're not a foreign journalist.
Q John Sisleno (ph) with the Saudi Press Agency. Yeah, I was just wondering on the reports regarding the Saudi visa express, notwithstanding you going into the whole process as you did yesterday, but --
MR. REEKER: Ninety minutes yesterday.
Q Yeah. (Inaudible) -- but some of the misperceptions -- I think you called a lot of what the reports in the Washington Times or the National Review as a lot of misperceptions in regard to the system. But I was just wondering how concerned the State Department is with the misperceptions which are causing maybe a ripple effect in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East as far as travelers actually wanting to come to the United States.
And I know some of the Middle Eastern newspapers, (Asharq Al-Awsat ?) and others, are filing reports saying, you know -- putting forth some of the -- that there are increasing obstacles to coming to the United States, and that a lot of Saudis in particular are concerned about actually travel here. I was just wondering what the State Department's take on this is.
MR. REEKER: Well, I think, you know, it remains what our position has always been: that, as I described earlier and described yesterday at the department, our law requires that anybody desiring to come to the United States for any purpose overcome a presumption that they are intending to immigrate to this country. And I think, first and foremost, it's important for everybody to understand that, for Americans to understand that and for foreigners to understand that.
We understand that there are a number of legitimate reasons to come here -- to travel, to -- for tourism, for business, for education, for exchange programs, journalists -- these are all important things -- just as Americans travel abroad.
But just as other countries have visa regimes, so do we, and we have a law that regulates that. And security is absolutely vital in that, and it's an important part of that. And we've seen that in terms of September 11th.
So we're doing all we can to make sure we have as much information as we can, and we're still requiring the visa application, plus additional materials to be filled out. There's a supplemental form, as you know, that has been required since shortly after September 11th, when Congress gave us new legal authorities to require an additional form that gives us more information, so that consular officers can review closely every application. And those that are able to demonstrate strong and binding ties through to their home countries can then overcome the presumption of immigration.
And then there are other categories of ineligibility in terms of narco-trafficking, in terms of terrorism, criminal acts. There are other things, and those are things that our consular officers look for as well, liaising very closely with law enforcement authorities, with intelligence authorities, and making all the information available.
So anybody will know that it's never been an easy process to get a visa to come to the United States. Certainly in my experience being abroad, a lot of the people I meet and talk to talk about that, and that's a reality. There's still a great demand for visas to visit the United States for all kinds of purposes, and that's an important function, and we want to make sure that happens. It's important to us to be able to have people come into our country for legitimate purposes -- of trade, of business, tourism, of meeting with their families, of attending our schools and universities -- and that's important. But we have to make sure it's legitimate. We have to make sure that the security aspects of this are first and foremost in our minds.
And the visa application process is a major part of that, and the fact that every visa application has to be reviewed and approved by a consular officer. And everyone that's issued a visa after that difficult process is then reviewed upon arriving at the port of entry to the United States. We'll continue to have those things. Those are our laws. They're important laws for our own security, and, frankly, for those of -- for the security of those visiting the U.S. for legitimate purposes. So I wouldn't -- I wouldn't discourage people that have legitimate interests from applying for visas and being patient with the process.
Q A follow-up to --
Q Is the State Department seeing any kind of wane in travel from the Middle East --
MR. REEKER: You know, I don't have -- I've been asked that before, and I don't know that we have the statistics. It's something we can look into. Certainly after September 11th there was a drop in travel. That was no surprise to anybody around the world, and it was something all of you were reporting in terms of a worldwide phenomenon. Because of heightened security, because of people's personal concerns, we have -- for Americans traveling abroad we have worldwide cautions and travel warnings to regions and areas where we think travel may be dangerous. But I couldn't tell you for sure on the numbers. And, of course, those things change seasonally as well. But I think there's still a very strong demand for people to visit the United States for all kinds of purposes, most of them very legitimate and very real. But we have to take those precautions in light of the security threats that we know also are very real.
Yes. Hi.
Q I have four questions. I don't know if you would be able to cover to them --
MR. REEKER: Oh, oh. Four.
Q In an interview recently with Washington-based journalists -- (inaudible) -- Francophone Africa, the assistant secretary of State Kansteiner said that your government is working in East Africa to provide equipment for security in different airports. Do we know what countries are currently receiving that package?
MR. REEKER: That's one I'd have to check into for you. I don't know. I know we've done that in the past in other parts of the world, supported countries in helping make their air systems, their airports more secure. And I just haven't had a chance to talk to Assistant Secretary Walter Kansteiner about that. But we could certainly check into it and see if we have more detail on that type of security assistance that we provide.
Q Okay. I was also wondering if you have any comment on the legislative elections in Guinea last week?
MR. REEKER: Yeah, that's one I'd have to also check on. I was away last week.
I took a vacation. And so while I was riding a raft down the Deschutes River in Oregon -- which I recommend highly to anybody that wants to take an interest in vacationing -- I wasn't focusing on the Guinea elections. But I'll check because I'm sure our embassy has sent in some -- are focused on that and I could tell you if we had any views or not. Obviously, we support free and fair elections. We like to see those -- that part of democracy, and that's in the best interest of the people of Guinea as well. So it's one we'd have to check on, and someone will take a note for me and I'll see if the embassy had anything to say about that.
Is there one last one?
Q Yeah. The last one has to do with the African (UNIDE ?), which recently went off and now there's a new union. Do you have any comment on that particular line?
MR. REEKER: I did that one.
Q Oh, you did?
MR. REEKER: In fact, your colleague from South Africa --
Q Actually, I just got here.
MR. REEKER: Okay. No, that's perfectly understandable. If you check the transcript, I talked about our support for that, our applauding the efforts of the participants in that in terms of trying to improve their coordination and cooperation. It's something Secretary Powell has talked about and endorsed, the idea of a more unified Africa. And Ambassador Boucher also spoke about that, I believe.
Q Okay. Great.
MR. REEKER: Right behind you. Sir?
Q Hamid al-Khadim (ph) with the Middle East News Agency. Back to the quartet meetings. You just said that Secretary Powell would be leaving Tuesday, would be leaving New York Tuesday night. Logically now should we conclude that there will be no meeting in New York Tuesday with the Arab foreign ministers? And let me just point that -- is it a question of timing, or the meeting of Arab foreign ministers with the secretary any time next seek in Washington and New York is still questionable?
MR. REEKER: I would just stay tuned and not have you take that logic that far, because Tuesday is a long day. There's 24 hours in it. And so he can go and return from New York on Tuesday and do a number of things. The thing I can tell you about is the quartet meeting, which he does plan to have. As far as any other meetings, at this pint I just don't have any details on any plans. The secretary's always pleased with the opportunity to meet with his counterparts and colleagues from Arab countries and (looks to do ?) that, but I don't have anything to announce for you.
Q Yeah, and if I can have just a quick question on Iraq.
MR. REEKER: Last one. We've got to wrap it up for the TV guys.
Q Yeah. Sure. Yesterday and the day before, over the past two days, the U.S.-backed opposition leaders met at the State Department building over here. Could you tell us the outcome of the meetings? I guess they are over by yesterday. And to what extent does the U.S. have faith in the credibility of those opposition leaders on the streets of Iraq? I mean, some people might say that, well, they are agents of a foreign government, after all. Thank you.
MR. REEKER: The meetings that have been taking place in the State Department the last couple of days are part of our Future of Iraq project, something we've talked about for some time, to bring together a broad array of Iraqi experts to discuss practical steps for planning for the future of Iraq after Saddam Hussein. And as you know, it's the policy of the United States that there should be a change of regime in Iraq, for the best interests of the Iraqi people, of the region and Iraq's neighbors, and in terms of the stability of the entire world.
So the planning meeting that we held with Iraqis earlier, in April, I believe it was, identified six subjects that they wanted to focus on in terms of working groups, and one of them was transitional justice issues, as well as public health and humanitarian needs -- water, agriculture, and environment; public finance was an area, and public outreach was another area they looked at. And so what we had the last two days were a working group meeting on the issue of transitional justice. And I don't have any particular readout on those meetings. The discussions I know were productive, and we look forward to moving ahead with the other working groups as well in this process.
This is not a project to select an Iraqi government, but to establish a process, to establish a process that can give voice to the various experts out there, Iraqi experts who live outside Iraq, who are in northern Iraq, the free Iraqis, to begin practical, preliminary planning for their own future. And we'll continue to work on those working groups.
I think we have to wrap up here for the TV. If you want to just wait a minute, I can take a few more questions after we finish the TV feed that we do. So I'll thank you now for your patience.
(Brief audio break.)
MR. REEKER: (In progress following audio break) -- atrocious crimes which resulted in the deaths of Americans, as well as Greeks and others. And that's our view on it. It's a terrorist organization that needs to be wiped out.
Yeah?
Q Yeah, on the newly released Amnesty International report on suicide bombs, do you have anything --
MR. REEKER: I didn't read it. No, I haven't seen it. Sorry.
Q It came out today.
MR. REEKER: Sorry.
Q All right.
MR. REEKER: In the back? Before I finish my water.
Q Thank you. My name is -- (off mike) --
MR. REEKER: Sounds good to me.
Q Last week the State Department released a new travel warning for Colombia. This week Colombian commissioner met with -- (off mike) -- and the Colombian government wants two -- (inaudible) -- travel warnings. Could you comment on that?
MR. REEKER: You know, I couldn't tell you. Those travel warnings are things that we look at very, very carefully. We have to make very objective determinations about the situation abroad and make that information available to American citizens so that they can make their own decisions in terms of their travel planning. And so with the help of our embassy, obviously, in trying to gather all the information we have about safety and security, and sometimes they deal with all kinds of issues, including natural disasters or weather, that's how we make the judgments that are contained in those travel warnings.
And I know from time to time we hear from foreign governments about it. We hear from the public or people in the travel industry. We have to make those sometimes difficult decisions, but we have to make available to American citizens the best information we can, to allow them to make their own decisions. We simply put forth to Americans the information we've able to determine and certain recommendations that we may have, but they have to make their own decisions based on that.
And so I can't give you any more detail on the specific -- we try to put as much information in the travel warning as possible and make it as full, so that then travelers can make their own decisions.
Anything else? One more here. "Mein Herr."
Q Concerning the International Criminal Court --
MR. REEKER: Yes.
Q -- do you have any new about the negotiations in the U.N. Security Council? And would you guarantee or could you guarantee that the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Bosnia would continue beyond Monday?
MR. REEKER: Well, I think it's a discussion ongoing, and I hesitate to even say anything, since while we've been talking, I don't know what's happened -- (chuckles) -- in New York.
But you're probably aware that the U.S. circulated a new resolution in the security council on July 10th -- late yesterday. And that draws on Article 16 of the Rome treaty -- the treaty that created the International Criminal Court. And that Article 16 provides for the -- or provides that the International Criminal Court will not commence or proceed with investigations or prosecutions for a 12-month period on the basis of a Security Council resolution -- a Chapter 7 resolution.
And so our resolution that we presented insulates peacekeepers from contributing states, like the United States, that are not party to the ICC for one year. That's what our resolution calls for, and the resolution would apply to all U.N. Security Council-established or authorized operations. Therefore, Bosnia would be covered, and in the case of Bosnia, that's meeting the needs and concerns that we had. It is consistent with Article 16 of the Rome treaty and with the responsibility of the Security Council for maintenance peace and stability.
We -- it will give us the opportunity, then, to pursue negotiating the bilateral agreements -- the so-called Article 98 agreements -- with individual countries, which provide that -- the signatories of those agreements -- those Article 98 agreements. We'll not hand citizens to other countries -- from other countries over to the International Criminal Court or another country that could then hand them over to the International Criminal Court.
And we'll try to do that with the largest number of countries. But at this point, it's something that's still being discussed in the Security Council. And we'll be watching. I don't know, like I said, what's happened in the last hours. I think they started meeting about 3:30 this afternoon.
Q (Off mike.)
MR. REEKER: I'll let you guys make those kinds of judgments on tension and analyses of things like that. We've been very clear with our concerns and the reasons for our concerns and the reasons for dealing with this. We believe strongly in peacekeeping. We contribute tremendously towards U.N. peacekeeping and other peacekeeping operations all around the world. But while they look at these deliberations -- or continue to deliberate these issues, I just couldn't make any particular judgments for you. We'll have to see how -- the vote will depend on the outcome of these deliberations, and we'll have to see when that takes place.
I think that's it? Thanks.
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