Remarks and an Exchange With Reporters Prior to Discussions With Foreign Minister Antonios Samaras of Greece

Q. When are you coming to Greece, Mr. President?

The President. Well, let me say I'm looking forward to coming to Greece. And I want to tell the Foreign Minister that I'd like very much to have the Prime Minister come here, because we have a strong relationship with Greece. We're delighted with the cooperation we are receiving. I view it as a partnership.

And I don't know exactly on timing because we've had to delay a trip that might well have tied into a stop in Greece. But I hope you will tell the Prime Minister that -- one, of our gratitude for the wonderful cooperation in this partnership approach we've got; two, of our commitment to Greece, longstanding, and to its security and to its prosperity.

And I guess, really, my message to the Greek people would be one of gratitude for its steadfast standing shoulder to shoulder with the United States and many other countries in standing up against the aggression that Saddam Hussein has perpetrated.

So, Greek-American relations are in good shape. And what we're going to talk about is how to make them even better, if we can.

Q. Mr. President, does your resolve for implementation of all U.N. resolutions include the Cyprus issue as well?

The President. Well, we've been looking at that for a long, long time. Quite clearly, it's not something that the United States can do. We've long favored support for the Secretary-General's initiative.

But that's the last question I'll take -- a very good one and an issue that I hope can be resolved. We've got a full-time, a very able Ambassador who remains involved on it in multilateral -- Mr. Ledsky. We have a good Ambassador in Athens who has our full confidence. So, I hope we can be helpful. But that's a problem that I'd love to see solved, in keeping with these U.N. resolutions.

Thank you all very much.