August 10, 1983
President Reagan. It's been an honor and a pleasure to welcome President Abdou Diouf to the White House today. And it is especially fitting that our meeting takes place on the 100th anniversary of our American Consulate on the Senegalese island of Goree.
President Diouf is one of Africa's most impressive leaders. He's a peacemaker and problemsolver, whose fine reputation preceded him to Washington. After meeting with him, working with him, and talking to him, I can only say it is a reputation well deserved.
In our conversations this morning and at lunch, we discussed many important international problems, particularly those of Africa, the Third World, and the Middle East. On many of the issues our views converge; on others we've agreed to differ. We've always done so, however, in the spirit of mutual respect and in the context of a valued bilateral relationship. I have formed a high personal regard for President Diouf's wisdom and integrity, and I value both his views and his counsel.
Senegal and the United States are relative rarities in this troubled world, democratic nations living under the rule of law and devoted to human rights, committed to the search for peaceful solutions for international problems. I've assured President Diouf of America's support for him and for Senegal. I've also expressed our admiration for his accomplishments at home and abroad. In the months ahead, I look forward to both building our personal friendship and stengthening the important ties that bind our two peoples, knowing our relationship can only further the cause of world peace.
President Diouf. I should like, first of all, to thank President Ronald Reagan, to thank the American Government and the American people for the particularly warm welcome that they have extended to me and to my delegation on this my first official visit to the United States. The fact that my visit coincides, as President Reagan so appropriately recalled, with the centennial of the first American Consulate in Goree bears witness to the longstanding relations of friendship and cooperation between Senegal and the United States, two democratic nations attached to respecting human rights and basic freedoms.
The fruitful meetings we had this morning and during the lunch were the occasion for thoroughgoing exchanges of views on strengthening and furthering our bilateral cooperation. I should like to rejoice here, reflecting upon both its quality and its effectiveness. We also discussed major international issues confronting the world of today in Africa, the Middle East, and the Third World. We are agreed, in the spirit of the relationship based on confidence that has been established between our two countries, to pursue and intensify our consultation in order to find the most effective solutions in the interests of peace and international security.
To that end we rely upon the wisdom of President Reagan, a leader whom we admire for his candor and his pragmatism. He has already proved, by his actions inside the United States as well as outside of the United States, that he is a major statesman, fully consistent with the full measure of the American people. And I should like to avail myself of this opportunity to renew the assurance that we, the people of the Third World, are following with great interest and comprehension the untiring efforts that he is constantly undertaking in order to secure the triumph of the ideals of peace, democracy, and justice in the world.
Note: President Reagan spoke at 1:17 p.m. to reporters assembled at the South Portico of the White House. President Diouf spoke in French, and his remarks were translated by an interpreter.
Earlier, the two Presidents met in the Oval Office and then held a working luncheon, together with U.S. and Senegalese officials, in the Residence.