SECRETARY POWELL:

Well, thank you all very much for being here this afternoon and I apologize for being a little late, but we got into some excellent discussions and didn't allocate enough time for those discussions. But we're going to find some time later this evening to get together and continue our discussions. I value greatly these semi-annual meetings with my colleagues in the European Union, and I would like to express my thanks to Foreign Minister Papandreou, to High Representative Solana, and to External Affairs Commissioner Patten for braving the blizzards of Washington, D.C. to be with us today.

This is a critical time for the United States and our European friends, our European allies. From our shared concern about Saddam Hussein's failure to disarm, to North Korea's prohibited nuclear program, our transatlantic agenda is daunting and it is global. Today we focused on four very important challenges: Iraq, the Middle East, North Korea and Cyprus.

On Iraq we all share the same objective -- Iraq's disarmament as required under UN Security Council 1441, Resolution 1441. The United States and some of our European friends do have some differences with regard to the next steps that should be taken and we are exploring those differences in an open, honest and candid fashion.

I was pleased to see the European Council's statement of February 17th which reinforced the need for Saddam Hussein to comply and to disarm. We are all hopeful for a peaceful solution, but we also understand that 1441 provided for serious consequences if Saddam Hussein did not comply. We and the European Union agree that it is important to keep the focus on Saddam and on his obligations to disarm. The responsibility and the decision to comply with the demands of the international community rest with him, and we believe it is time for him to come clean.

On the Middle East we discussed our commitment to moving forward as quickly as possible with the Quartet's roadmap. As President Bush said yesterday, "Success in Iraq could also begin a new stage for Middle Eastern peace and set in motion progress towards a truly democratic Palestinian state." The President also, once again, last evening confirmed our commitment to the roadmap, his personal commitment to the roadmap, to the peace process, to ending settlement activity and to finding a way forward to achieve the vision that he laid out in his June 24th of last year speech, and which also reflects the views of my European colleagues, the Quartet and Crown Prince Abdallah and the Arab League's vision as they have articulated it.

On North Korea, as we said at our last U.S.-EU meeting in December, we share a deep concern over North Korea's continuing activities and weapons proliferation and its nuclear weapons program. North Korea, we believe, must honor its international commitments and completely and verifiably eliminate its nuclear weapons program; and the United States welcomes the European Union's effort to help resolve this matter. It is a matter of great concern not just to the United States, but to the neighbors of North Korea, and as evidenced by the interest that the European Union has shown in this area, it's a matter of interest to the entire world.

Even as the United States and the European Union work to meet formidable challenges in the Persian Gulf, the Middle East, North Asia, we see an extraordinary opportunity to help the United Nations resolve the decades-long Cyprus dispute. Secretary General Kofi Annan is there as we speak, working with the sides trying to reach an historic settlement in the coming days and we firmly support his efforts. We share the European Union's hope that Cyprus can enter the Union as a united country.

Another example of our common efforts to resolve disputes is the joint announcement today in Brussels, Athens and here in Washington, of visa restrictions on the leadership of the secessionist Transnistria regime in Moldova. Together we are sending a strong signal to the secessionist leaders that they must negotiate seriously to bring this longstanding issue to a rapid settlement.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to commend the U.S. and EU negotiators who, in the last few days, reached agreement on the text of extradition and mutual legal assistance treaties. The agreements are now in their final approval process. They will greatly strengthen law enforcement cooperation between us. Minister Papandreou, High Representative Solana, External Affairs Commissioner Patten, the U.S.-EU agenda crosses the Atlantic and spans the globe. It encompasses matters of high moment, indeed, matters of war and peace. It is also filled with day-to-day issues of importance to our citizens and I look forward to our next ministerial meeting, and Chris and Javier and Georges, I thank you all for being with us here today. Georges.

FOREIGN MINISTER PAPANDREOU: Thank you very much, Colin. Here with both Javier Solana and Chris Patten, I think we can also say we value very much this opportunity to exchange views and discuss our cooperation on a very large number of very important issues. And certainly today was a very constructive and useful discussion.

Obviously, Iraq is on our minds, and we do stand united in purpose, that is, for full compliance by Saddam Hussein of 1441 and full disarmament of Iraq. We are very concerned, not only in Iraq but around the world, on the issue of weapons of mass destruction and proliferation. And this, of course, is why we also are ready to help in any way we can on the North Korean issue.

On Iraq, we were able to, again, bring the EU discussions we've had amongst my colleagues and also the heads of states and government to the discussion today where we have, again, as I said, reiterated we are at common purpose. We also have said that we need to -- we don't exclude the use of force, but we need to use all possible diplomatic means, every window of opportunity, in trying to resolve this crisis, even at the last moment, peacefully; and of course the importance of the UN role in this whole process.

I think we also had a very constructive discussion on the Middle East peace process which is an area of close cooperation and will continue to be. Again and again in our discussions in the European Union, we see this as very important for the wider stability of the region in the Middle East, and Europe of course, is, with the enlargement of Europe, coming much closer to the area of the Middle East.

On Cyprus, I want to say that, yes, this is again an important area of cooperation where Kofi Annan being on the island today, is bringing great hope of a possible solution after many decades of impasses and aborted attempts. I think that our cooperation has been paramount in moving forward the possibility of a peaceful solution where we will have, if we can do so, two communities, two sides, the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots, living under one roof in a united island and in a united Europe where the principles of peace, of democracy, of human rights, of tolerance, and of progress and stability have been achieved over the many decades.

I think this would be a great moment for both Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots. It'll be very important for Greek-Turkish relations, and it will be very important for EU-Turkish relations, also. So I think that this is a great opportunity to make it a showcase of multiculturalism, a showcase where Muslims and Christians, Turks and Greeks can live peacefully together, side by side.

Finally, I think that in our discussions on the transatlantic relationship, a very important relationship in the past, today, and in the future, we have shown with these two specific examples you mentioned, Colin, that there is much room for further cooperation and coming up to the summit in June with President Bush and Prime Minister Simites, I think it's very important that we work to see how we can complement each other in dealing with these difficult issues of weapons of mass destruction, of security around the world. Thank you very much again for this discussion.