Joint Press Briefing With Argentine Foreign Minister Rafael Bielsa

QUESTION (as translated): Mr. Powell, on the issues discussed during your meeting, first, did you talk about the possibility of Argentina cooperating with border patrols in Iraq for the rebuilding of the country and, second, if you addressed the Argentine Supreme Court issue, because we've received information that the USG is concerned about the issue of the Argentine Supreme Court.
 
SECRETARY POWELL: On the issue of Argentinian border patrols to Iraq, no, we did not discuss that issue. I did note for the President that we have appreciated over the years how much Argentina was willing to participate in peacekeeping operations around the world. And, certainly, we hope that Argentina would consider some contribution to what's happening in the Iraq peacekeeping effort, but we didn't talk in any specifics.
 
I also took note of the fact that, of course, Argentina during the first Gulf War was an ally of the US, made a contribution of troops to that effort.
 
With respect to the Supreme Court, we did discuss it, and I mentioned to my Foreign Minister colleague and to the President that we would take note of it, what was happening and we have heard from some members of our Supreme Court. But the assurances I received today was that everything that was going to be done was consistent with the constitutional procedures and it's a matter for the legislature of Argentina to deal with it.
 
Let me also say, since you've given me the opportunity to speak, what a pleasure it is for me to be back in Argentina and that the conversations that I've had with the Foreign Minister and the President were very open and cordial and as befitting a strong relationship between two friends, and we look forward to working with the President and his new Administration as they deal with the economic challenges that are facing Argentina, and we will try to be as supportive and helpful as we can. And I think this was a very good get-to-know-each-other visit, and I'm very pleased with the results.
 
QUESTION: Secretary Powell, I’m sorry to change the subject. There was a serious incident in Gaza earlier in the day. (inaudible) …with the parties on this?
 
SECRETARY POWELL: We're deeply troubled by what happened in Gaza earlier today and we are concerned that this kind of activity will delay the kind of progress we're hoping for as we move down the roadmap. My colleagues back in Washington are in contact with the Israeli government and have expressed our concern to the Israeli government. And I will, of course, be having more conversations with my colleagues in Washington once I leave this meeting and I get to the airplane and the telephones.
 
QUESTION (as translated): I wanted to ask you if you're promoting a free trade agreement between Mercosur and the U.S. before entering FTAA, if the U.S. will continue negotiating or supporting negotiations with the IMF, and whether you expect a short or long term agreement between Argentina and the IMF?
 
SECRETARY POWELL: We have a private joke about these kinds of questions. The U.S. is committed, of course, to trying to achieve, with our friends throughout the hemisphere, a Free Trade Area of the Americas by 2005. But we have under consideration other trade agreements of a bilateral or regional nature, and so Ambassador Zoellick, our Trade Representative, concluded a Free Trade Agreement with Chile on Friday. We're looking at a Central American Free Trade Area and we are examining relations with Mercosur to see what might be possible there, and in our discussions here in Argentina I might say that the issue of a Free Trade Agreement did come up and I will convey the interest of the new Administration back to my colleagues in the trade area, in the Trade Representative's office -- Ambassador Zoellick -- when I return to Washington.
 
QUESTION (as translated): Can you please give us Argentina's impression on what the Secretary has just mentioned, what you discussed. What can you tell us?
 
FOREIGN MINISTER BIELSA (as translated): The point of view is exactly the same one. What we discussed is that there are no economic ideas that exclude each other. The President said he viewed Chile's Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. very positively and we can add that this agreement was the result of 12 years of work. We've been negotiating for four years now -- in similar conditions -- the incorporation to FTAA, and we hope we will continue negotiating in a similar way, so that results will be equally beneficial for our people.
 
QUESTION (as translated): It's been said that the U.S. has offered Argentina a similar treaty to the one it offered Chile. Did you discuss this?
 
FOREIGN MINISTER BIELSA (as translated): No, not on this occasion.
 
QUESTION: For the Foreign Minister, I’d like to ask – there have been differences between the US and Argentina in the past on the issue of foreign debt renegotiation. I wonder, as a result of your conversation with the Secretary today, how do you feel now about the US view on that issue?
 
FOREIGN MINISTER BIELSA (as translated): The view the U.S. has regarding Argentina's debt renegotiation is part of the global re-negotiation. The re-negotiation is conducted with multilateral credit organizations. What, I believe, is important for us to underscore is that, today, our President introduced the idea of a long-term negotiation, not a short-term negotiation that only solves immediate problems. In that sense, my colleague, Secretary Powell, fully agreed that the renegotiation of the debt mustn't take place in a framework of postponed payment dates and overdue deadlines, to avoid the next administration having to face the same problems this administration found, but rather reach an agreement on what Argentina is effectively able to pay without devastating its own people, and what multilateral loan organizations are able to understand vis-à-vis this reality, so that they may sign an agreement that is sustainable in the long term.
 
Thank you.