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CNN Live Event/Special

Secretary of State Colin Powell Briefs Reporters

Aired May 03, 2002 - 14:48   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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: There is a significant briefing now under way at the State Department. Secretary of State Colin Powell, the Russian foreign minister, said to announce what they have come to agree with regarding the reduction of nuclear warheads across the globe. Let's listen.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: ... the Russian Federation. We've just completed, I think, a very successful series of conversations privately, and then with all members of our delegation. And the minister also had a meeting with President Bush.

We express to the minister how much we are all looking forward to the Moscow summit later this month. President Bush is very anxious to visit Moscow and St. Petersburg, to have conversations with President Putin as well as to be exposed to the wonderful culture of the Russian people.

HEMMER: All right, we lost our signal there. Do we have it? Yes, we do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (speaking in Russian).

POWELL: The president of course is looking forward to furthering bilateral agenda between our two nations and the economic area, cultural exchanges, trade issues, strategic framework discussions. I think it's going to be a very, very successful summit.

In preparation for the summit, we have had a full discussion today on all of the regional issues of interest to the two parties. I express my thanks to the foreign minister for his support of the efforts of the Madrid quartet yesterday on the Middle East. And as you might expect, we had a long discussion today on the strategic framework.

We have made progress toward the completion of our work on the strategic framework document. There are still some outstanding issues. But I think I can say that we are both encouraged by the progress that we made today.

HEMMER: That's the word from the State Department, the word we have been waiting for. Earlier today we were given an indication that the Russian foreign minister, a very high probability, we're told, on a deal to arms reductions. But also, the U.S. and Russia, very common bond right now regarding the Middle East. When we talk about the quartet, it's the U.S., Russia, members of the E.U. and also the United Nations. So clearly, there's a lot to talk about between these two countries. More, we anticipate, on the talk about arms reductions down the road here.

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