Remarks With Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik

FOREIGN MINISTER PLASSNIK: Thank you. Welcome, Secretary of State. It is a pleasure to have you in town today picking up a thread that you have (inaudible) of women's empowerment last September on the margins of the General Assembly. And we just had a meeting of this network. We will now go on meeting with our friends from the Middle East women leaders and the Middle East search for peace and security will be the subject matter that we discuss. And I am quite convinced that the main message of that meeting will be visible; we’ll enjoy having you speak about it. It is that despite from where we come and what problems we face, we sit down, we network, we talk, we negotiate, we rely on the power of dialogue. Thank you for joining us.

SECRETARY RICE: Well, thank you very much and, Minister Ursula, I want to thank you very much for the splendid arrangements for this meeting. Indeed, we met on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. It was a very interesting meeting of women foreign ministers who wanted to get together to provide networks for women to express themselves, for women to express the need that women's issues and women's needs should be taken into account when one talks about places of conflict, and sources of conflict.

We also want it not to be just one meeting, and thank you -- thanks to you, Ursula, we've not been just one meeting, but without you and without your tremendous dedication to getting this done, it would not have happened.

We're going to focus today on the Middle East, but we have a steering group that is made up of women from Europe and from the Middle East and from Asia and from Africa, and we've just had a conversation about what we might do next. But today's work is on the Middle East and I look forward very much to our conversation today. It's absolutely the case that unless women are fully participants in their society in terms of political participation, economic participation, these societies cannot really be fully democratic. And that is something that we're absolutely devoted to and look forward to continuing to work on. So thank you for all the splendid work that you've done.

MODERATOR: Thank you very much. And (inaudible) ask questions, (inaudible) inform you that simultaneous translation is provided for in English, German, Arabic and Hebrew. The first question, please, to Mrs. Volcheck from (inaudible).

QUESTION: Madame Secretary, President Bush has at the beginning of his presidency made a two-state solution for the Middle East one of his top priorities. Now today it seems as if the Middle East was even further away from this solution as before. Where would you say has in the past years of Mideast politics have mistakes been made?

And perhaps a question to both ladies. Traveling the Mideast, have you as women dealing with Arab politicians ever experienced barriers you felt you cannot cross?

**FOREIGN MINISTER PLASSNIK: Very interesting.

SECRETARY RICE: Well, on the Middle East, I would note that President Bush has indeed made a two-state solution one of the centerpieces of our policy. In fact, he was the first President to make as a matter of policy the establishment of the Palestinian state to live side by side with Israel in peace and security. Why haven't we achieved it in the last six years? Well, of course, we haven't achieved it in decades. And so obviously, if it had been something that was easy to achieve, it would have been achieved by now. But the -- I'm not certain that, in fact, we are further away now than we were at some other point in time. It seems we've been close from time to time.

But there are also underlying trends that might suggest that this is a time of opportunity. I know that when we look at the front pages or the headlines about the Middle East these days and renewed violence in the Gaza, for instance, that one wonders why we think this is a time to continue to pursue the two-state solution and indeed to intensify. And my view is that the Middle East is a place that if you wait for the perfect time, you're never going to pursue it because the perfect time is never going to come.

I think the enduring truth is though that the great majority of Israelis and Palestinians want to live in peace, they want to live in a circumstance in which their children are concerned about their future education in a university, not about whether or not they are going to survive. I think it has been long enough since Palestinians have wanted and needed their state and long enough since Israelis have wanted and needed a neighbor that can be a source of security, not a source of threat for them.

And so whatever has happened over the last several years, this is a time I think for renewed emphasis on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. I've been to the region a number of times to try to pursue that. I'm very pleased that President Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert are going to meet on June the 7th and we're going to keep working at it. The Quartet met just yesterday and the Quartet also is devoted to that. And so history has its ups and downs and, clearly, this conflict has had its ups and downs. But all that we can do when we're here and while we're here is to try and push this forward, and the President is committed to trying to do that.

As to travel in the Middle East, I generally find that I've been very warmly received. I don't feel barriers as such. I think that when you're traveling as U.S. Secretary of State, you're traveling first as U.S. Secretary of State -- and I did have a predecessor in Madeleine Albright, of course also. But the women of the Middle East are going to country by country and region by region find the appropriate balance between tradition and women's empowerment. But the key that I continue to emphasize when I go to the Middle East is these have to be matters of choice, and I emphasize particularly political rights because without political rights you can't possibly express choice.

FOREIGN MINISTER PLASSNIK: Well, I wanted to join in on what you said about the moment. I think it is the precious moment. It is the crossroads that we are facing. It is a time of high expectation and critical choices in the Middle East. And I have felt in our working shops yesterday what we see and perceive on the political level, which is a sense of urgency. A lot of elements are on the table. They have to be combined now, relentless efforts including by yourself to that, and have been taking place. So we have to continue to encourage those in positions of responsibility, including the women among them to continue this effort, not to be de-motivated.

And talking about the barriers in the traveling experiences, the barriers I resent most and try to address in my work is barriers in mindsets. And this is part of the work we're doing here, raising awareness that women in the Middle East are not just an amorphous mass of people without rights and aspirations. They are 50 percent of the potential -- of the human potential, of economic potential, of the political potential in the region. They deserve to be taken seriously in political functions. But also those who have not yet been able to take up official functions, public functions in their everyday life, in their families, in their environment, they contribute to stability in their societies and this is part of reality we should not disregard.

MODERATOR: Sue Pleming from Reuters.

QUESTION: This is for Secretary Rice. One year ago today, you said that you were prepared to meet the Iranians anytime, anywhere as long as they suspended enrichment; yet, Ali Larijani is going into the meeting with Mr. Solana today not offering that and steadfast that he won't give up enrichment. Is it time to change your tactics on Iran? And do you think, for example, that you may look at suspending UN sanctions for suspension of uranium to get this process moving?

SECRETARY RICE: Sue, I think it's time for Iran to change its tactics. The international community is united on what Iran should do, and that is to suspend, to demonstrate that it is, in fact, not seeking a nuclear weapon under cover of civil nuclear power, to demonstrate that it is prepared to pursue a course that would lead to a civil nuclear program for Iran and for its people, which could be a very high technology but which would not have the fuel cycle associated with it, and to show that it is prepared to engage the international community in a way that would be fruitful in terms of trade and political relations for Iran and for its people.

I repeat again that if Iran is prepared to take that course, then we are prepared to change 27 years of American policy and sit with Iran to talk about whatever Iran would like to talk about. But that can't be done when Iran continues to pursue, to try to perfect, technologies that are going to lead to a nuclear weapon. So as I've said to you before, I think the question isn't why won't we talk to Tehran; the question is why doesn't Tehran want to talk to us.

QUESTION: What about the issue of suspension for suspension? Is that something that you rule out entirely?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, in fact, suspension for suspension is written into the Security Council resolution in the sense that if Iran suspends and comes to negotiations, then we would suspend activity in the Security Council, and so that can be done at any time. But unfortunately, while we have been willing to suspend so that there is suspension of activity in the Security Council, Iran has not been willing to take the other half of that bargain.

MODERATOR: (Inaudible), Austrian Press Agency.

QUESTION: (Via interpreter.) I have a question to the Austrian Minister as host to this conference. The Middle East as has already been mentioned, is going through a phase of great violence; also among brothers, so to speak, within the Palestinian community. Now, a conference like this, a conference of women who want to network -- what can a conference like this do? What kind of effect can it produce in the face of violence and in a region with a majority religion which gives men a dominant role -- the Islamic religion?

MINISTER PLASSNIK: We are concerned, deeply concerned, about this outbreak of violence and the surge of violence in the Middle East. Yesterday, the Mideast Quartet appealed for a stop to violence. This is the most urgent need felt by the population on all sides and this is something we're going to work for insistently. Now, what we can offer? It's the strengths and the force of dialogue: to meet beyond borders, to do our utmost to trigger a political process which includes everybody, which comprises all the parties concerned. This is what we're working on; we, as politicians, as women. But men are also working on this issue, and only our joint efforts will ultimately succeed.

Talking about the situation in Arab countries or Muslim countries, now in this context, I would like to refer to a report by UNDP on human development in the Arab world. It's a most impressive report which comes from the region and which emphasizes the achievements of women in the Arab world. It encourages women to continue along these lines, but at the same time, it shows up the deficiencies. We're aware of these. We have to address them at the international level, and in the course of our quest for peace, we need to work on that. I'm referring to access to education, access to health care.

The legal status of women a lot has been written down on paper, but legislation is not always implemented. But we're also referring to the delicate issues of the religious background, what is a matter of interpretation and what is a matter of tradition. So there too, we need to offer encouragement and we need to contribute to this network of encouraging women.

SECRETARY RICE: I think that also the women of the region and women who are themselves Muslim and therefore profess Islam will carry this debate themselves about how we -- how the world should think about Islam and women's rights. I've heard some very remarkable expressions from women about how they see the role of women in Islamic societies. I've heard Kuwaiti women who said to me and sent me actually a t-shirt that said, "Half a democracy is not a democracy at all." And in fact, women in Kuwait have the right to vote now. They ran candidates, none of whom won in the first try, but I was just with them when I was in Kuwait six or seven months ago and they are organizing and preparing to run for office again.

And so I do think it's extremely important in our world to recognize that without political rights, without political voice, it's very difficult to have expression about how tradition and doctrine really do affect what women can do. You really do have to have openness in society to have that debate, to have that expression. And while we're not trying to determine the answers, I think we are advocating for an open process in which women can express those views and act on them.

MODERATOR: Nicholas Kralev, Washington Times.

QUESTION: Madame Secretary, on North Korea, if I may. Chris Hill has been saying for months now that things look quite positive and the North Koreans are still committed to the February 13^th agreement. But yesterday, you said that it's very early to claim victory, and I realize it was because you (inaudible) at another foreign minister. But that fact is that six weeks past the deadline, there is a bank in the United States looking at the issue and perhaps considering it. What is the delay? Many people around the world are blaming the United States, even deriding the United States, for its foreign policy, in terms that it didn't perhaps think of the consequences of those policies beforehand. So how long is long enough?

SECRETARY RICE: The question is?

QUESTION: Yes, how long is long enough? And what exactly is now the complication with the transfer? Thank you.

SECRETARY RICE: Well, first of all, the initial steps that are to be taken in accordance with the February 13^th agreement, we believe need to be taken and in fact expect to be taken. You are right that there have been complications arising from the banking issues that were a part of the resolution that led to the February 13^th issue and those are being worked through. They're principally technical issues, but we expect North Korea to live up to its obligations.

Now, as to my point that I'm not ready to declare victory on the North Korean nuclear program, that really had nothing to do with my expectations about the February 13^th agreement. But you will remember when I first introduced the February 13^th agreement -- I think you were there in the State Department -- I said that this was, if anything, the first quarter of what was going to be a very long process. I apologize for using the football metaphor here in Europe, but the first quarter of what is a four-quarter game in the United States. And so when I say that I wouldn’t declare victory on the North Korean nuclear program, I mean that even with the fulfillment of the February 13^th initial actions, we still have a long way to go to do away with the dangers of the North Korean nuclear program and to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.

So I do still expect, and, in fact, the North Koreans have said on a couple of occasions that they intend to fulfill those obligations. We'll work to get a resolution of the banking issues. The United States believes that we have, of course, fulfilled our obligations in unfreezing those funds. But there are some technical aspects that have to be worked out, and we hope that this can go forward. But the February 13^th agreement, when implemented, will be a good start to a longer process of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Thank you.

MODERATOR: Thank you very much. And with that, the press conference is closed. Thank you very much.

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