Briefing for Foreign Media

Real Audio of Briefing  

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       MR. REEKER: Thanks very much, George, and it is a treat to come back. I do enjoy coming over here to the Foreign Press Center, and I'm sorry I've been away for a while. It just gets very busy at the State Department, and particularly when Ambassador Boucher is traveling with the Secretary. And I did get an opportunity to go out to Los Angeles and meet some of your colleagues at our Foreign Press Center out there and do a briefing for them. Hope to do the same thing next month in New York at our Foreign Press Center up there.

       As you know, the president and secretary just returned from a very successful trip to Europe. The president discussed it a little bit this morning during his Cabinet meeting, noting particularly his time in Russia, where we can say -- (brief audio break) -- over, and we're working closely with our Russian friends on so many topics.

       I don't have any other particular announcements. I hope everybody got a chance to see the briefings at the White House, at the Defense Department and at the State Department -- (chuckles) -- because I think they've covered most everything. But I'm here to help, if I can, with any additional things.

     Why don't we start with Goyal, and then we'll move along. Sir, how are you?

       Q Thank you. Raghubir Goyal with India Globe and Asia Today. Sir, my question is only that the president today is dispatching -- asked the secretary of Defense to India and Pakistan to ease the tensions. I understand that Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz also is going to India and Pakistan -- Deputy Secretary --

        MR. REEKER: Deputy Secretary Armitage.

        Q He's also going in the region.

        MR. REEKER: Right.

        Q Now -- and the deputy secretary of Defense also was in the area.

        MR. REEKER: I don't know about that.

        Q A very high-level visit just took place recently, within the last two months.

        MR. REEKER: Mm-hmm.

        Q When we're talking about and the State is talking about diplomacy that is working and diplomatically trying to ease the tensions between the two countries, but why Secretary of State Colin Powell is not going, being a diplomat and to solve the diplomatically? Why the Defense chiefs are going?

        MR. REEKER: Well, we're very focused on solving the problem diplomatically, because we think that's only way it can be solved -- by reducing tension and by getting the two parties into a dialogue to solve their problems, because there's really no military solution to this. And a heightening of tensions, military conflict will not benefit anybody, nor will it do anything to address the concerns of the two sides. So we've been coordinating very closely in the international community, and the president has spoken about this. Secretary Powell has spoken about this.

        As you know, Secretary Powell was in the region not all that long ago, and he remains very engaged with the leadership on both sides, the Indians and the Pakistanis. You know that the EU representative, Mr. Patten, was just recently in both capitals.  British Foreign Secretary Straw has just finished visiting both capitals. The two leaders are going to be otherwise occupied. I believe they're going to a meeting in Kazakhstan in coming days. And then Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage will be departing Washington on June the 4th, and then he'll have meetings in Pakistan on the 6th and in India on the 7th.

        The president noted this morning that Deputy -- pardon me -- Defense Secretary Rumsfeld will also visit the region. This is a continuation of travel he already had scheduled in the region, so he will also go there.

        This is all part of an engagement process. It also includes our diplomats on the ground, who are very focused on working with both sides, trying to help create an atmosphere where tensions can be reduced and where a dialogue can resume. There is a danger that irresponsible elements could try to spark a conflict between India and Pakistan -- an armed conflict -- by engaging in terrorist provocations. And we've got to do all we can to have everybody involved do their utmost to reduce the violence and lower the rhetoric, exercise restraint. And keep in mind that only terrorists would benefit from a war in South Asia.

        The types of attacks that we've seen reported today on an police station in Kashmir is something that we strongly condemn. It is aimed directly at trying to heighten tensions and arouse the extremists to do that. So both sides need to do whatever they can to focus on this. We've looked to Pakistan to make concrete progress on the promises that President Musharraf has made about taking steps to make sure that terrorists are not able to infiltrate, that Pakistan cannot be used -- or territory controlled by Pakistan cannot be used to by terrorists. We continue to look to him to fulfill those promises.

        So you see, as we discuss the continuing engagement of the international community, including senior U.S. officials traveling out there, Secretary Powell is certainly keeping very involved. He's been on the phone regularly with Foreign Secretary Straw and with others, including the leaders in the two countries.

            Q Dmitri Tirsanv (ph), Russian News Agency, TASS.  President Putin is holding talks, both with Prime Minister Vajpayee and President Musharraf in coming days in Kazakhstan. And President Bush dispatched Secretary Rumsfeld to the region -- I mean, to India and Pakistan today. The question is very simple, I believe: Do Moscow and Washington coordinate these efforts directly?

        MR. REEKER: I think it absolutely was a topic that the two presidents discussed when they met just recently in Moscow and St. Petersburg. We've kept in very close touch with the Russians, as well so many others in the international community. So this kind of engagement, including the meeting in Kazakhstan, is all very important, so that the whole international community is working to coordinate with each other to reduce the tensions, help the two sides avoid armed conflict. And that's the focus of that. So we very much welcome that.

        I think both Presidents Putin and Bush noted this in their press appearances and their discussions that they had in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and we have had a long-standing dialogue, ourselves, with India and Pakistan on our security issues, intended to reduce the risks inherent in any conflict there. We remain convinced that they have to resolve their differences, including over Kashmir, through dialogue. That's the only way ahead. And we think a bilateral dialogue between India and Pakistan that takes into account the wishes of the people of Kashmir is the solution, and that's where we're putting our emphasis. I think the whole international community is echoing that.

        Q (Name and affiliation inaudible.) General Musharraf, in a recent interview with the Washington Post, said that there is absolutely no infiltration across the Line of Control. Do you see any evidence to support that claim? And also, is the U.S. monitoring infiltration or terrorist activity along the line -- along this line?

        MR. REEKER: Well, as Secretary Powell has said, we'll be watching very closely -- we continue to watch very closely for that evidence to make sure that that infiltration doesn't take place. We do have ways of keeping track of things, of learning information. I'm not in a position to discuss most of those. But we certainly watch this very, very closely. We remain convinced that Pakistan is committed to supporting the global war on terrorism, and we just reiterate that -- the president did this morning -- that we want to see President Musharraf take those concrete steps to fulfill the promises he's made to continue working to make sure that infiltration doesn't occur, and that then the two sides work together to create an atmosphere where they can pursue the much-needed dialogue to settle their differences.

        Q Is there any indication that this level has reduced or come down over the past --

        MR. REEKER: I'll just leave it at what the secretary said, that we're watching that very closely; we'll be looking for evidence of that. We heard what President Musharraf has had to say. He's echoed his promises; his January speech was also very important in making clear that it was important that Pakistan stand up against extremists who would try to take Pakistan down a different path. These extremists are the enemies of peace who try to provoke conflict, and that we're focused on reining in terrorists and taking those steps that President Musharraf has talked about as an important part of that, and they've got to get the rhetoric down, get the tension eased so that they can focus on a dialogue that will be the ultimate solution to resolving their long-standing conflicts, including over Kashmir.

        Q Giampiero Gramaglia, Italian News Agency, ANSA. I would like two questions, but the second one is on the Middle East, so perhaps we can discuss that in the second part.  On India-Pakistan, those irresponsible elements you are referring to, are they present in both sides or are they present just in one side of the two parties?

        MR. REEKER: I don't think I can provide you that type of intelligence-based information. The important thing is to note that the irresponsible parties that we've talked about are those that would seek to raise tension in an atmosphere that needs to see tension come down. And we have listened to President Musharraf; we've heard what he's said. And as the president said, you know, President Musharraf has got to stop incursions across the Line of Control. And he's said he's going to do that, and we want to see concrete steps taken to live up to those promises.

        We're making it very clear to both India and Pakistan that war will not serve their interests, and this is a time for clear heads to prevail, to focus on getting the rhetoric down, as I said, getting to a place where there's an atmosphere that can be more conducive to the much-needed dialogue to resolve their differences.

        Is there anything else on South Asia? Or we can do the Middle East with your second question. South Asia? The gentleman in the back.

        Q I'm wondering how helpful the United States is being by this constant even-handed, (zero-sum ?) exhortations to both sides to -- for instance, in response -- the question was fairly direct, are there irresponsible elements on both sides. And it occurs to me that universally it's acknowledged that Afghanistan, Pakistan, that swamp is the real epicenter of terrorism. So instead of a clear enunciation of where the trouble lies and what are the sequential steps for de- escalation, it seems to me that there's this constant even-handed thing which is not really helping and which may be emboldening Pakistan to pursue this policy.

        Secondly --

        MR. REEKER: Did you actually have a question there, or was that just a --

        Q That is a question. I'm asking is there a clear sequential steps the U.S. would like to highlight, or --

        MR. REEKER: I think it's what I outlined here already today, and certainly what my colleagues have outlined throughout Washington also today and what we've been saying for some time now. We've got to see steps taken to prevent the infiltration across the Line of Control. The president of the United States said again today that President Musharraf has got to take all the action he can, do everything within his power to live up to those promises he's made. He spoke quite eloquently on a number of occasions about the need to rein in extremists, who only seek through terrorism to increase tension and are the enemies of peace, are the enemies of a dialogue, and that kind of dialogue that we believe has got to take place to solve these problems in a long-term way.

        So I think we're trying to be very much involved, coordinated with the international community, talking to both sides about steps they can take to ease the atmosphere, to ease tensions and make sure that rhetoric is lowered, that both sides exercise restraint. But certainly we've made very clear that these irresponsible elements will try to spark a conflict. And that's why we've said that it's vital for everybody to do their most to reduce violence. And we've certainly called on President Musharraf to take those important steps.

        Q And my follow-up question was, beyond the immediate crisis, does the U.S. see a role in forcing a normalization in Kashmir? Because every time there appears to be some kind of normalcy, there are elements which disrupt it. I refer to the attack on the journalist yesterday in Srinagar, where a journalist who wrote a story about how the Indian army was helping Kashmiris was attacked. And likewise, there was a politician, Lone, who was assassinated because he appeared to be willing to dialogue with India.

        MR. REEKER: I'm not sure I get what your question is out of that, out of those statements.

        Q Beyond the immediate crisis, will the U.S. press for allowing a normal political process to proceed in the Jammu and Kashmir?

        MR. REEKER: Well, as I said, I mean, I think it's quite clear that India and Pakistan have not been able to resolve their differences over settling the Kashmir dispute, and that's the relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions that are in play for some time. I mean, those resolutions haven't been implemented.  Some of them are more than 50 years old.

        We believe that the Kashmir dispute must be resolved through a bilateral dialogue between India and Pakistan that takes into account the wishes of the people of Kashmir. It's what we've said all along, and it's what we firmly believe. That's where we're putting our emphasis in terms of the bigger picture in resolving those differences, while we also are focusing right now on calming the tensions, on easing the tensions and creating an atmosphere so that that dialogue could take place. That has been our role as the United States. That's what we're coordinating with the international community. We don't seek a mediator's role, but as we've always said, we would be prepared to provide facilitative assistance if the parties requested it. And so we remain prepared to do that, and we remain very much engaged with both sides, as well as the rest of the international community, to seek a way forward.

       Q Can I change the subject?

        MR. REEKER: Does anybody else have anything else on South Asia? Is there another --

        Q I have --

        MR. REEKER: Dmitri (sp) has a quick one. We'll do South Asia and then go back to you, okay?

        Q Dmitri Kirsanov (sp) of the Russian news agency Tass. Philip, under what conditions the United States would -- will evacuate the personnel of its diplomatic facilities in India and Pakistan?

        MR. REEKER: Well, it's something that we monitor. It's when we make a determination that it's in the better interest of our people, our people there, Americans in an official capacity there. So we watch this very closely.

        As you know, in Pakistan, we already have what we can an ordered departure. That is, the family members and non-emergency personnel from our posts there, our embassy and our consulates in Pakistan, have left the country. So as soon as we make any determination as far as official Americans, we also immediately include that in our consular information, in our travel warnings, our public announcements, for all Americans to then be aware of what we are suggesting. And certainly, given the heightened tensions that we've just been discussing here and we've been all monitoring for some time now, the possibility of the outbreak of hostilities is something that we have to keep in mind. And so we coordinate with other U.S. government agencies and consider appropriate steps that should be taken to assure the safety of official and other Americans in both countries. And so that's something we look at very closely.

        We do this at every post around the world. And so every embassy has a continuously updated plan in case of a variety of emergencies. We take this responsibility of ours very seriously. That's a primary responsibility of the Department of State, is to look after the safety of Americans. And so it's a prudent thing to do, and it's very much a routine thing to do for us to plan in advance of any possible decision to bring Americans out of the country. So we'll keep the public aware of any decisions at that point now. I don't have any new developments as of right now.

        Q May I ask a follow-up on --

        MR. REEKER: Sure. Follow up on that and then we'll go to the lady.

        Q -- really, a follow-up on the questions before, then, the Russian colleague. Giampiero Gramaglia, the Italian news agency ANSA. The question is, are you afraid or do you have the feeling that General Musharraf is -- takes advantage of his essential role of ally of United States in the terrorist war to push farther the tensions with India in Kashmir?

        MR. REEKER: We think that Pakistan has been an essential ally and a solid ally in the war against terrorism, and we've listened to what General Musharraf has said, including what he said yesterday about not allowing Pakistani-controlled territory to be used by terrorists. And as the president said, we want him to live up to those promises and do everything within his power to do that.

        We have to fight terrorism. We have to fight this kind of extremism. And President Musharraf, I think, spoke about that, as I mentioned earlier, going back to his January speech that the future of Pakistan -- and he sees this in his role as the leader of Pakistan -- is to stand up against the extremists, who are the enemies of peace and would try to take Pakistan down a path that is not in the interest of anyone in Pakistan or anyone in the region.

        And so that's why we continue to make very clear our call that to both sides that military activity won't be in either country's interest. And they've got to take these actions -- particularly President Musharraf -- to stop the types of infiltrations that we've been seeing. And that's where we'll continue to keep the focus.

        I think that takes care of South Asia. And the lady back there has the next question. And we'll keep going.  Go ahead.

        Q Thank you. Rosita Wah (ph) with Singtao (ph) Daily.  I have a question on Hong Kong, actually. The Hong Kong legislature yesterday -- they gave very strong support to restructure the cabinet, which also believe that that's going to (concentrated ?) power to the Hong Kong leader, Mr. Tung Chee-Hwa. Has the State Department been talking to the Hong Kong -- (inaudible) -- about this, and do you believe that this change is going to bring more efficiency in ruling over Hong Kong?

        MR. REEKER: I don't know. I haven't seen any specifics on that. I'm sure it's something that we'll look at closely. If it was something yesterday, I don't know that we would've made an analysis of that yet. So I don't have anything to offer you on that. But it's something that we'll watch and look into. And our consulate general in Hong Kong, I'm sure, is keeping fully abreast of the situation and as things develop, will let us know, and if we have something to tell you, we'll let you know. Okay?

        Up here in the front, and we'll try to move our way back.

        Q I'm Insang Tang (ph), working for Chosun Daily News, the Korean newspaper. And my question is about the dialogue between U.S. and North Korea. Actually, in early May, U.S. government has announced that they will announce -- I mean, members of the Pritchard trip to North Korea -- (inaudible) --

        MR. REEKER: That's not quite what we said, but --

        Q Yeah, but it says, like, they will announce it in coming days. But so far, there is, you know, nothing has --

        MR. REEKER: That's because it's something we're still working on. Ambassador Pritchard is part of the group, obviously, that's working to determine the timing and other details of those talks with North Korea. I just don't have any particular news on that. ambassador Pritchard was in New York recently, attending the regular broad meeting and the annual general conference of the KEDO, the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization. He's the main representative to that organization, as you know. And so work continues on those talks -- on timing and other details of those, but I just don't have anything new to announce at this point.

        Q Is it delayed as it is expected to be announced? Or --

        MR. REEKER: No, I think again, it's one of those things -- sometimes the media jumps ahead of these things, and we hadn't announced any dates. We were very pleased to have the response finally from the North Korean side. And now we are working to determine the timing and details of the talks. But we just haven't gotten that far. These things do take time. And when we do have something to announce, we'll certainly do it. (Chuckles.)

        Okay, here, and let's keep going across.

        Q Hoda Sofia (ph), al Ahram, Egypt.  Of course, I'll ask about the Middle East. (Laughs.)

        MR. REEKER: We'll switch to the Middle East, sure.

         Q The president of Egypt is coming next week, to discuss with the United States. Others leaders have been here. My question is, what do you exactly want the Arab states to do when Israel is continuing aggression on the Palestinians? And as far as I remember, we haven't heard any condemnation from the United States to what's happening against the Palestinians.

        The other part of the question is concerning the peace conference. What are the problems we are really facing to still insist on a peace conference?

        MR. REEKER: I'm not sure the premise of some of your questions actually meshes with the reality, but let's talk a little bit about the Middle East.

        The president, in his speech in the Rose Garden, back on April the 4th, talked quite clearly about our vision and what we look for in the Middle East in terms of our strategy and in terms of the responsibility that all parties involved there have. We have responsibilities, and we're trying to meet those responsibilities by being engaged with both sides, by working very closely with others in the international community to do all we can, to offer what we can to help the two sides, first of all, get the violence down, and then move forward in some sort of process.

        And in that regard, he outlined a three-part strategy. All of these tracks have to be worked simultaneously, in parallel. And so that includes establishing effective Palestinian security performance -- and we've certainly been talking about that for some time; renewing the political process, which is going to be very important. It aims at the two-state solution that the president has talked about, an independent Palestinian state called Palestine, next to a state of Israel, a Jewish state, with safe and secure borders. And certainly the third part of that is building a strong, responsible Palestinian Authority with the institutions necessary to actually become a state. Preparing for statehood is a very important part of that, and that includes financial accountability, transparency, and infrastructure and services, and all the things that go along with what the Palestinian Authority should be doing. So there is an active strategy there.

        As you know, Assistant Secretary Burns is in the region. He was just in Egypt, and moved on today from Cairo to Jerusalem. He had, in Egypt, discussions with President Mubarak and the foreign minister, Mr. Maher, other Egyptian officials were there. It was a productive and focused set of meetings on the next steps in our comprehensive strategy. And that's what we've been doing is working with the other parties who have responsibilities, including the Arab countries. And that's why the president has met with so many Arab leaders. Many of them have come to Washington. President Mubarak will be here later next week. And we certainly appreciate Egypt's efforts in continuing to work with the parties.

        Assistant Secretary Burns then met with Chairman Arafat today -- a little while ago; afternoon in the region. He'll meet with Prime Minister Sharon and Foreign Minister Peres over the course of the next few days. And all of these discussions focus on how best to move forward.

        I think you also are aware that the director of Central Intelligence, George Tenet, will be going to the region at the end of the week. And he's scheduled to go and work on developing a work plan for security issues. Then Assistant Secretary Burns and Mr. Tenet will return to Washington for further review prior to President Mubarak's visit next week. And when they've completed their work -- that is when Burns and Tenet come back and report to the president -- then we'll be in a better position to determine how we'll move forward toward the meeting that the secretary has talked about and which we still plan to have this summer.

        Q May I follow-up? All this is okay. But can it happen when the aggression is continuing? Are you asking the other party to fulfill any commitment? Because when the president spoke on the 4th of April, he asked for withdrawal. The withdrawal is now the contrary because they are proceeding.

        MR. REEKER: Well, again, I can't go into every single incident that gets reported. But the president was quite clear in his views that all sides have responsibilities. And certainly we don't have any illusions about the difficulties that lay ahead. We're committed to doing our part. And all the parties -- Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the Arab countries, and as you know, the rest of the international community, those that make up the Quarter -- the U.N., the European Union -- have all stepped forward to play a role because progress has to be made on all three of those tracks by all sides if there's going to be a lasting end to the Israeli-Palestinian violence and a progress towards our vision, and the vision that everyone has said they share in terms of the Arab League's vision that they announced in Beirut in terms of President Bush's speech that he made at the United Nations.

        And so this is everybody doing their part. And we do have to focus on security. We've got to make sure that Chairman Arafat is doing everything within his power to exercise leadership and authority to stop violence, to prevent terrorist attacks. And certainly the security discussions that Director Tenet will have will be aimed at doing that.

        I think the fact is we've made very clear the disappointment we've had with Chairman Arafat's performance on security issues. And as the head of the Palestinian Authority, he is the leader of the Palestinian people and we believe he could be a better leader; he could exercise leadership and lead the Palestinian Authority in a more effective way. And that goes to the issue that we've discussed in terms of reforming the Palestinian Authority's institutions. And I think there's an effort by the Palestinians themselves in this direction, and we've seen a groundswell of support for these types of reforms.

        And so we'll work with Chairman Arafat, we'll work with other representatives of the Palestinians, with our Arab friends, and with those in the international community to help transform the Palestinian Authority, make it a more effective organization so that it can work to fulfill its responsibilities while Israel lives up to its responsibilities and that everybody in this process does that. And so it's not an easy process, but we are quite determined, as the president said, to continue doing what we can to move forward.

        Q Hanan El-Badry, Egyptian Television and Rose Al-Yussef magazine, Egypt. Regarding the visit of -- next week, President Mubarak will be here. And before that, Mr. Tenet will be back, as I understood.

        MR. REEKER: That's the plan at that the secretary and the president have discussed, yeah.

        Q Do you believe that will help the American administration to finish or put the final touch to ready-to-go plan for peace after that meeting?

        MR. REEKER: I don't think we've discussed any particular plan for peace. What we're doing, as I outlined, is remaining very engaged with the parties and with Assistant Secretary Burns there in the region now with a series of meetings. As you know, he's going to go on. He'll also be in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and he'll see Syrians and Lebanese as well, before he comes back. Mr. Tenet will also return and be able to meet with the president, brief the secretary and the president. Then President Mubarak's visit to Washington will be important to continue the dialogue we've been having with Arab countries and discussing then how we move forward in next steps. So it's a very step-by-step process.

        We continue to think that having an international meeting is a good idea. It's what the Quartet announced when they last meet here in Washington a couple of weeks ago, when the secretary talked about that meeting, some sort of ministerial meeting sometime this summer could advance the cause of peace and continue that process that we really saw beginning with President Bush's April 4th speech in terms of all the aspects of the strategy that we've been talking about.

        Q As you know also, the head of Egyptian intelligence today in Israel, he was going to meet -- (inaudible) -- meet with the Israelis and with the Palestinians. In that case, is there any kind of cooperation between the Americans and the Egyptians on the security track?

        MR. REEKER: Well certainly we keep in close contact with all the parties there. That's why Assistant Secretary Burns was just in Egypt. I couldn't give you any details of those types of discussions, but Director Tenet is going out specifically to focus on the security side of this, and I think that's going to be the important thing, developing a security work plan, because first and foremost in the three-part strategy is making sure that there's security for Israelis and Palestinians, and any role that other countries can play in that is going to be important.

        Q Do you believe also that dealing with Jibril al-Rajoub will be easier for you and for the Israelis than other Palestinian security parties?

        MR. REEKER: I couldn't comment on any specific things like that. We certainly deal with Chairman Arafat as the leader of the Palestinian Authority and with a broad group of Palestinians, but I couldn't give you any specific assessment on an individual.

        Now creeping back here. Yes?

        Q (Name inaudible), Azerbaijani News. I've got two questions on Caspian region.  Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov was here last week to discuss security cooperation matters with the State Department in the framework of the security dialogue. Do you have anything on results of this round of negotiations or anything on the U.S. assessment of this round of dialogue?

        MR. REEKER: Sure. Just to run through that, as you indicated, on May 24th our assistant secretary of State, Lincoln Bloomfield, who is the assistant secretary for political-military affairs, chaired the annual U.S.-Azerbaijan Bilateral Security Consultation that took place here in Washington, and the Azeri delegation was led by Deputy Minister Azimov, as you said. He's also President Aliyev's special representative for Nagorno-Karabakh.

        The agenda covered the full range of bilateral security cooperation issues, from pipeline and oilfield security to humanitarian de-mining, which, as you know, is a very serious issue. The deputy foreign minister praised the positive evolution of bilateral security and political ties between or two countries since 1992. And you noted that Azerbaijan and the U.S. share major common interests, not just in the energy area, but also in regional stability and the development of democratic values.

        We also discussed the potential for regional cooperation, developing safeguard for energy resources and transportation routes. We noted on the part of the United States that we remain committed to the independence and sovereignty of the Caucasus and Central Asian states. And the two sides also noted the continuing U.S. interest in developing multiple pipelines to facilitate the export of energy resources from the region. That includes, of course, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan route.

        We discussed the prospects for peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute and the development of peaceful regional cooperation. So we had in there, besides the Department of State, representatives from the Department of Defense, and the Azeri side also included some other representatives, including the ambassador to the U.S. and members of the embassy staff here. So I think we saw that as a very useful meeting. We've done that every year now and celebrate a decade of that, a decade of good relations between our countries.

        Q And the second one. On the eve of Bush-Putin summit, White House officials declared that they would welcome Russia's more close participation in Caspian oil project, and especially in Baku-Tbilisi- Ceyhan. As I understand, this was also included into the U.S.-Russia energy dialogue. Now since the frame documents have been signed, what are your expectations from Russia? Do you expect their more close participation in Baku --

        MR. REEKER: I don't think I can offer you anything more than what the White House put out. I believe there was a fact sheet on that energy dialogue, and I just don't have any more details to update you on that at this point, other than that we remain interested and committed to seeing multiple pipelines in the region. We think that's in the best interest of countries in the region, to benefit from their resources, and we'll continue to engage in that dialogue, and that includes Russia, of course.

        Sir?

        Q (Name inaudible), working for the South Korean Munhwa Broadcasting. North Korea and the U.S. talks. You said Mr. Pritchard went to New York recently.

        MR. REEKER: That was for the KEDO meeting, yeah.

        Q Yes, the KEDO meeting. And he -- the fact hit me that there's some -- nuclear issue is a major issue between U.S. and North Korea deal, and it might be the stumbling block in making headway of the deal.

        MR. REEKER: What deal are we talking about?

        Q Oh, it's the U.S. and North Korea is preparing for the talks --

        MR. REEKER: Right. Let me just reiterate -- yeah --

        Q -- but within KEDO, there's -- Chuck Kartman is -- represents the United States.

        MR. REEKER: No, no, Mr. Pritchard is the U.S. representative to KEDO. He replaced --

        Q Chuck Kartman?

        MR. REEKER: Right. He's the U.S. representative --

        Q So he deals with both?

        MR. REEKER: He's the U.S. representative to KEDO. That's right. Yeah.

        Q Okay. I was confused.

        MR. REEKER: No, he took over that job some time ago. So they had their annual general conference in New York. He attended that -- separate issue from our dialogue with North Korea. We're working, as I said, to determine the timing and the other details of the talks, and we just haven't gotten any further in announcing any specific --

        Q The nuclear inspection issue is going on between the two sides -- nuclear inspection issue to North Korea?

        MR. REEKER: I think that's a separate issue, not part of our working to develop the time line or details for our talks. So I don't have anything else on that. I guess there's just really nothing to add on the North Korea issue at this point.

        Q Did he meet North Korean Ambassador (Li Hyong Chol ?)?

        MR. REEKER: I don't know. He had no meetings scheduled with North Koreans in New York, so my assumption is he did not have meetings. He was there for the KEDO meetings.

        Q Yes. Secondly, last -- yesterday Mr. Boucher said, with respect to North Korean refugees issue, that we'd have to evaluate any particular case on its merits. And you could you specify on his remarks? As -- what type of North Korea refugees can the United States grant political asylum, beyond the fact whether or not they are present on U.S. territory or on the border?

        MR. REEKER: I don't think it's quite a question of what type of a person. Under U.S. law -- that's simply a fact -- asylum can only be requested by an applicant who is physically present in the U.S. or at the U.S. border. That's simply our law. The Immigration and Naturalization Service at the Justice Department is really responsible for deciding asylum requests, although the Department of State provides information to them, such as conditions in a country, to help assist them. In terms of those procedures, though, I think you'd want to talk to INS on that.

        In terms of the North Koreans who have been in China, I think we've been very clear all along in terms of what we said to the Chinese, that we want to see these issues resolved. We've told the Chinese government that we would urge them to resolve this in a humanitarian manner, as was done in previous cases when North Koreans entered consular or diplomatic facilities in China. And so our embassy in Beijing makes that point quite clear. We make that here in Washington.

        And we're not really involved in the current cases, but we try to remain aware of the situation. And in this case, I believe, we let the South Korean and Chinese governments try to handle this, as they have in the past.

        Yes?

        Q Sonia Schott, CMT, Channel 51 of Venezuela. Washington has always promoted democratic values in Latin America. Now is -- the time is coming to strengthen democracies in the continent. I just want to know -- next week will be the OAS meeting in Barbados. There is any proposal to strengthen democracy specifically in Venezuela?

        MR. REEKER: Well, I think we've talked about Venezuela and the concerns that we've had there and the need to adhere towards the charter for democracy, which is under OAS auspices. Certainly, we have a long and strong relationship with Venezuela.

        And I think we talked about -- maybe you were at the department earlier this week, when we talked about the travel of our Policy Planning Director, Ambassador Haase, who was in Venezuela from May 22nd through the 24th. And he met with a broad selection of Venezuelan officials, including with President Chavez, underscoring the importance we place on trying to maintain a constructive relationship and our interest in promoting a strengthening of Venezuela's democratic institutions. We certainly welcome President Chavez's calls for national reconciliation, and reflection and dialogue will achieve that goal. And we've urged Venezuelans to accept the OAS, who has offered assistance to Venezuela and engage in this dialogue to make that process worthwhile.

        At the meeting that'll take place in Barbados, next week -- Secretary Powell will attend that meeting, the General Assembly of the OAS -- I think the ministers there have said or that the organization has said they will use this as an opportunity to continue efforts to strengthen democracy, to combat terrorism, to expand free trade, to develop a security architecture for the hemisphere and to follow up on the initiatives that were taken last year in Quebec City. And that included the democracy charter, the topic, I think the theme for this meeting is the multi-dimensional approach to hemispheric security. And then they'll be following up through the democractic charter.

        Q (Off mike) -- I know your government report the OAS has facilitated for the political crisis in Venezuela, but Venezuela's still not accept it. What is the position of your government? Maybe Mr. Powell will be bringing any other proposal at the --

        MR. REEKER: I'm not aware of specific proposals. We'll let the Secretary go and see if that's part of the dialogue there. I just said, in discussing our views on that, that we have urged all Venezuelans to accept the OAS offer. They've made an offer to assist and engage in the full and genuine dialogue that we think would help the process of reconciliation. That's what President Chavez has called for. We've welcomed his calls for that, and we think this kind of dialogue is very important to strengthening democracy, and we'd like to see that, and we think the OAS provides a very good experience and a very good forum in which to pursue that kind of dialogue.

        Q Thank you. My name is Nike Chan (ph) with Broadcasting Corporation of China. If I may, I would like to switch the topic.

        MR. REEKER: Okay.

        Q My question is regarding the service provided by the Foreign Press Center. I know you care about foreign press, and we're raising the issue so that the State Department can make a note of it. Foreign Press Center used to have its own independent Web site and provide a comprehensive webcast service, including all State Department daily briefings and live briefings take place in the Foreign Press Center. But now, after Foreign Press Center Web site is registered under the State Department, the live-webcast service is no longer there. And this is not a good news for media, because webcast is an essential and one of the most important services provided by the Foreign Press Center.

        So I would like to know if it's possible for the State Department to make efforts to resume such service? Thank you very much.

        MR. REEKER: Just to make clear, the Foreign Press Center has a separate website and still maintains a separate website from the main State Department website. There are a variety of websites and the Foreign Press Center is a separate one and it has a variety of other materials available on it. So that is still very much the case.

        In terms of webcasting, I'd have to go back and check on what the technical issues are. I know there are a variety of rules, in fact, and laws that govern our ability to provide video or simultaneous web stuff if we don't have a written transcript as well.  This falls under a variety of U.S. laws designed to meet requirements under the American with Disabilities Act. And so there are some legal, regulatory requirements we have to meet there.

        But we're always looking at this stuff broadly, and for the main State Department website as well, looking at how we could integrate video of our briefings or other events in there. And certainly the Foreign Press Center is part of that too.

        So I'm glad to know that you use the Foreign Press Center and find their material valuable, and I'm glad you can be here in person for these briefings. And when we're able to package in other forms some of these things and electronically distribute or do webcasting, we'll certainly pursue that. But there are some requirements we have to meet first.

        Q Giampiero Gramaglia, Italian News Agency, ANSA. The question on the Middle East I laid aside before.

        MR. REEKER: Right.

        Q On the international conference, is that true that the preparation of the conference seems to take a little longer than we expected at the beginning, and that the conference could be convened not before the end of the summer?

        MR. REEKER: Again, I don't know what you were expecting, but I don't think anybody is trying to make you expect anything more particular. Sometimes we get a little impatient on this. This is a step-by-step process. And I talked about our officials, senior officials, who are visiting the region, who will come back next week before the president meets with President Mubarak. And then we'll be in a position better to determine how to move forward toward that meeting that we still expect -- the secretary said it again, we still expect to convene a meeting this summer. This is in keeping with what the secretary announced as part of the Quartet.

        We continue to believe that this ministerial meeting sometime this summer could advance the cause of peace and continue the work that we started April 4th with the president's speech, and advancing the international community's security, humanitarian, economic reconstruction efforts, supporting Palestinian efforts that Chairman Arafat himself talked about on Wednesday to build strong, transparent and accountable institutions for the Palestinian Authority in preparation for Palestinian statehood.

        And so I think we'll just have to see how timing evolves on that, but we're still looking for something, a ministerial meeting sometime this summer. Just remember, despite the hot weather outside, it's not actually summer yet. So we will let you know as soon as we have anything further to announce.  Do you have a follow-up on that? Sure.

        Q Again it's Hanan El-Badry, Egyptian Television. Chairman Arafat today did kind of changing at the Palestinian cabinet.  First of all, I need your comment on that. Would that help?

        MR. REEKER: My comment would be that's a matter for Chairman Arafat; it's a matter for the Palestinian Authority.

        Q It would be helpful?

        MR. REEKER: We'll have to see. That's up to him to make those determinations. We've certainly talked about, and many Palestinians have talked about the need to reform the Palestinian Authority, to focus on institutions that can be held accountable, that are transparent, that can make a real difference in the lives of Palestinians; indeed, to develop institutions within the Palestinian Authority that can actually prepare for Palestinian statehood. So that's going to be very important, and I would leave those kind of steps up to Mr. Arafat and the Palestinian Authority to take.

        Q The second thing, regarding the Palestinian state. Do you believe as the American administration announcing the state now it would be helpful, or just delay it to after the final talks?

        MR. REEKER: I think there's a process here. We've made quite clear what our vision is, and that includes an independent Palestinian state, but there's also a process we need to go through, and I've described again today the strategy that the president has outlined in his April 4 speech and what we're pursuing. So we need to go through that. We need to focus on security.

        The most important thing right now for the Palestinians to focus on is reforming the Palestinian Authority and the institutions in it to make them actually viable institutions in preparation for statehood and at the same time focusing on security, because it's going to be absolutely crucial that Israelis and Palestinians be able to live in security; so they have to take all steps that they can to make sure that, you know, we do whatever it takes to rein in terrorism. And Chairman Arafat has got to live up to the things that he's promised. We want to see concrete action in that regard.

        Let's do the lady there who hasn't gone yet, and then the gentleman behind her, and then we'll come back to you, sir. If we need to break away, okay, we can break away and continue after that.

        Q Dubravka Savic, daily Novosti, Belgrade.

        MR. REEKER: Hi! (Says a word in the journalist's language.)

        Q Hi. (Laughs.) A question on Kosovo. Despite the condemnations of State Department and United Nations of the resolution of Kosovo Assembly, leaders of Kosovo still persist on their call for independent Kosovo and also for territorial integrity. What do you think? How does it add to the stability of Kosovo itself, and how does it reflect to the process of settlement between Serbia and Montenegro?

        MR. REEKER: Well, first of all, I think everybody knows, and I can reiterate again, that the future status of Kosovo is a matter that will be addressed at an appropriate time as called for under the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244. And that's simply a fact. Kosovo conducted its first free elections in November of last year, 2001, and thereby, I think, completed another step in implementing the Security Council resolution that called for those elections. We would like to see Kosovo continue to evolve in full accord with what the U.N. resolution calls for.  In that regard, we strongly support the benchmarks process that the U.N. mission in Kosovo has developed.

        The special representative of the secretary-general -- that is, Mike Steiner -- in Kosovo is instituting this process to evaluate the performance of the new provisional institutions of self-government.

        And so, in that regard, getting back to your specific question, we did fully endorse the action that Mr. Steiner took last week in terms of declaring null and void the Kosovo Assembly resolution on the border agreement between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Macedonia. And you'll remember that that border agreement was put out -- or the United Nations put out last March, March of 2001, a presidential statement that noted that the agreement reached between Yugoslavia and Macedonia concerning delineation and demarcation of their common border and emphasized -- the Security Council emphasized that this agreement has to be respected by all, and that includes the Kosovars. There's absolutely no legal basis for rejection by the Kosovo Assembly of that border agreement. And we think they need to call upon all parties to move to the agreement's full implementation, including accommodation for affected persons in border areas. And so, in that regard, we have been quite firmly with the rest of the international community, with Mr. Steiner and the U.N. Mission in Kosovo.

        And I think the Kosovo Assembly needs to focus on the things more at hand, in terms of taking steps within Kosovo to show that democracy is taking hold there, dealing with issues like services and building institutions for Kosovo, for its future, in keeping with the U.N. Security Council resolution.

        MODERATOR: We need to end the formal part right --

        MR. REEKER: We're going to stop here, and we can continue after. We'll just wrap up our television coverage of this briefing, and I'll thank you all for coming.  

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