Remarks Following Discussions With Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham of the Bahamas, Prime Minister David Thompson of Barbados, and Prime Minister Dean Barrow of Belize

President Bush. Secretary Rice and I have had the pleasure of welcoming three of our neighbors—neighborhood's strong leaders: Prime Ministers of the Bahamas, Barbados, and Belize.

And we had a discussion like you would expect neighbors to have: How do we work together for our mutual benefit? We talked about trade and tourism. We talked about how to make sure that our security needs are met without interrupting the ability for our people to travel as freely as possible, and for the ability of people to be able to make a good living as a result of tourism.

We talked about the region. I assured the leaders that the neighborhood is important to the United States of America. We oftentimes are talked about in dealing with the Middle East or dealing on the continent of Africa. But it was important for these leaders to know that we believe that a good, strong, healthy, vibrant neighborhood is in the interests of the United States. And so we had a good, friendly, important discussion, and I can't thank the leaders enough for coming. I appreciate very much for you being here—two of whom have just recently won elections— good, fair, clean elections.

And I reminded them that there's no stronger advocate for democracy than my administration. And I admire the fact that you agreed to run, had the courage of your convictions, and took your message to the people. And then, of course, there's the old senior man here who's been around quite a while. [Laughter] You've seen a lot come and go. And so, Mr. Prime Minister, why don't you say a few remarks, if you don't mind.

Prime Minister Ingraham. Thank you, Mr. President. We've had a wonderful discussion this morning. We're very pleased and grateful that the U.S. President invited us to come. We have discussed with him a number of issues of relevance and concern to ourselves, including the desire on our part to have the Caribbean Basin Initiative act extended. We learned it expires in September of this year. We talked about tourism, the impact that the current increase in the price of oil is having on travel. We talked about security and democracy.

And my two colleagues, who are recent Prime Ministers, David Thompson of Barbados and Dean Barrow of Belize, were able to engage in a full, frank discussion. As for myself, this is my fourth time to have been so fortunate to have come to this place. Thank you, Mr. President.

President Bush. Yes, sir. Thank you all very much.