White House Press Corps.org: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Tony Snow and David McCormick, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs 11/17/06

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Press Briefing by Press Secretary Tony Snow and David McCormick, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs 11/17/06
— Saturday, November 18, 2006 —

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Q Tony, I have one for you, and one for David. The one for you is, did the President give the Prime Minister a gift today for his birthday?

MR. SNOW: No. At least there -- but on the other hand, we have a state dinner tonight; maybe there will be something then.

Q And tomorrow, at ASEAN, do you expect either Thailand or Burma to be present in the room with the President?

MR. McCORMICK: Certainly Thailand I expect to be there. I'm not sure --

Q I know there was talk of the Vietnamese of trying to get Burma into this meeting, over objections from the United States. Do you know if that --

MR. McCORMICK: Not to my knowledge. I don't know.

MR. SNOW: Don't know. No? Gordon Johndroe says Burma will not be there. We will count that as definitive.

Q What will be the message to the Thai Prime Minister, given the recent coup?

MR. SNOW: Well, what we have said is we expect and encourage Thailand to return to democracy as soon as possible. That's been the message from day one; that hasn't changed.

Q Did the North Koreans express -- did the Vietnamese express any opinion about the U.S. view on North Korea?

MR. SNOW: Yes, they share it. They do not want a nuclear peninsula and they have been supportive of our view, and the President thanked them for that.

Q Do we know the agenda of the President's meeting with President Putin on Sunday?

MR. SNOW: Well, obviously, there will be discussion -- generally, the war on terror. There will clearly be discussions of Iran. But I think rather than my trying to set an agenda for the two, we'll let the leaders do that and once they've done it, we'll tell you about it.

Q Are there plans for a North Korea statement out of APEC this year?

MR. McCORMICK: Certainly that will be an agenda item and there was discussion of whether there will be an actual statement or not. To be determined.

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