Start Date: Tuesday, April 3, 2001
Last Modified: Monday, May 4, 2020
End Date: Friday, December 31, 9999
SECRETARY POWELL: Good afternoon. The Vice Prime Minister of Belgium and I have had a great conversation on matters of mutual interest. The United States and Belgium work closely together in a variety of areas, and we have a very, very strong, strong relationship that goes back many, many decades. And today we not only talked about the European Security and Defense Identity, we also talked about our interest in Africa, especially Central Africa, and Middle East peace, the prospects for that and how to get the violence moving back down, and all the other issues. So it was a great pleasure to have had you here, Mr. Vice Prime Minister. VICE PRIME MINISTER MICHEL: Well, we had a very good conversation together about some items and some topics which are very important for (inaudible) Middle East. I think we share rather (inaudible) positions. And also Africa -- I was very interested to observe that Secretary of State Powell was also very interested in the future of Africa and the human situation and the population there. We dealt also with the strategy (inaudible), we are in effect observing there is a window of opportunity in Congo today and that we must support all the efforts which are done to improve the situation. We also had a conversation about the European Security Defense Policy. I was very glad to observe that the position of Mr. Powell remains very favorable, as it was when he came to the NAC meeting. So I thank Mr. Powell for his understanding and for the same interest he shows, as we do. Of course we are very close partners, and even if there are some differences, for instance about Kyoto, there is a lot of work to do in this field. SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you, Mr. Vice Prime Minister. [end]
SECRETARY POWELL: Good afternoon. The Vice Prime Minister of Belgium and I have had a great conversation on matters of mutual interest. The United States and Belgium work closely together in a variety of areas, and we have a very, very strong, strong relationship that goes back many, many decades. And today we not only talked about the European Security and Defense Identity, we also talked about our interest in Africa, especially Central Africa, and Middle East peace, the prospects for that and how to get the violence moving back down, and all the other issues.
So it was a great pleasure to have had you here, Mr. Vice Prime Minister.
VICE PRIME MINISTER MICHEL: Well, we had a very good conversation together about some items and some topics which are very important for (inaudible) Middle East. I think we share rather (inaudible) positions. And also Africa -- I was very interested to observe that Secretary of State Powell was also very interested in the future of Africa and the human situation and the population there. We dealt also with the strategy (inaudible), we are in effect observing there is a window of opportunity in Congo today and that we must support all the efforts which are done to improve the situation.
We also had a conversation about the European Security Defense Policy. I was very glad to observe that the position of Mr. Powell remains very favorable, as it was when he came to the NAC meeting. So I thank Mr. Powell for his understanding and for the same interest he shows, as we do. Of course we are very close partners, and even if there are some differences, for instance about Kyoto, there is a lot of work to do in this field.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you, Mr. Vice Prime Minister.
[end]
Colin Powell
Washington, DC
Remarks with Louis Michel, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium
04/04/01