Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Bush in Europe: President Bush to Meet With Prime Minister Tony Blair
Aired July 19, 2001 - 11:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is in London today, where he lunched with the queen. He's now headed to the country for talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair. The courtesy call in Britain comes ahead of this weekend's economic summit in Italy.
CNN's Fionnuala Sweeney joins us now for more on all of this from London -- Fionnuala.
FIONNUALA SWEENEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Leon.
President George W. Bush of the United States has just left the American ambassador's residence not too far away from the CNN bureau, and is actually, as we speak, en route to Chequers, which is the prime minister's country residence. And there he will hold talks with the British prime minister, Tony Blair.
Earlier, as you say, he had lunch with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. He and his wife Laura arrived at Buckingham Palace at lunchtime. There they were met by the Queen and Prince Philip -- President Bush thanking Queen Elizabeth for her hospitality. It's not the first time he has met her. They met when his father was president of the United States in the early 1990s.
Elsewhere, for him today, it was also much as what any American tourist would do. He visited the War Rooms -- the Cabinet War Rooms, where, during the second World War, Winston Churchill plotted his strategy against Adolf Hitler of Germany. And then after that, it was off to the British Museum, where he was shown the artifacts there and then took an hour out with his wife Laura to read to schoolchildren -- storytelling hour.
And, as I say, the lunch now with Queen Elizabeth over -- he thanked her for her hospitality. And he is, as I say, en route now to Chequers to get down to business with Tony Blair, the British prime minister.
HARRIS: All right, Fionnuala, once that business is taken care of, then it's on to Genoa -- what to expect there?
SWEENEY: Well, what they are going to talk about now at Chequers is much of what is on the agenda at Genoa. The British and the Americans get on very well. There has always been a special relationship, generally, between the two countries. But he is going to face -- that is, George W. Bush is going to face some hostility from many of his European counterparts at Genoa, particularly over the issue of national missile defense. That has been a very sensitive issue for the Russians, in particular. And after the G8 meeting is over this weekend, there will be a very important meeting between President Putin of Russia and U.S. President George W. Bush -- President Bush speaking earlier to reporters, saying he was looking ahead to that meeting and he was optimistic about its outcome.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I look forward to having a good discussion with President Putin on missile defenses. I was pleased to see his comments. Remember -- I want you all to remember that he was the first world leader to indicate that perhaps we needed to think differently about the new threats of the 21st century.
He clearly talked about theater defenses, as well as the capacity to develop technologies to intercept missiles on launch. I still believe he understands that need. I look forward to discussing that with him in Genoa.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SWEENEY: But Europe very nervous about national missile defense. They're afraid that it will mean the end of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the former Soviet Union.
Also on the agenda will be globalization. And we understand there are as many as 50,000 protesters already on the streets of Genoa ready to demonstrate against globalization -- President George W. Bush saying that globalization is the answer to poverty, to open up free markets around the world, and these protesters are wrong -- but 50,000 protesters on the streets, as we say now, of Genoa, waiting for that summit meeting, which doesn't start until Friday.
We can expect a lot more by then -- Leon.
HARRIS: Fionnuala Sweeney, reporting live for us from London, thank you very much.
Stay with CNN for continuing coverage of the president's trip to Europe. Mr. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are expected to give a joint news conference. We expect that to get under way around 1:35 p.m. Eastern. And we will bring you that live right here.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
