The U.S. views Morocco as an important friend, and we applaud your political and economic reforms that culminated with the recent parliamentary elections that were widely reported to have been conducted in a fair and open manner.

We are the number one economy in the world, and we ought to continue to pursue those kinds of policies that ensure that we maintain that position, like innovation and like technology and like education and like just research and development and discovery.

At the very outset I want to say how the people of America appreciate the steadfast support of the people of Morocco, the leadership of Morocco in our war against terrorism.

Understanding that yes, we are committing more resources than we thought we might be in protecting our homeland and prosecuting a war and so it’s understandable that we would be going through a period of deficits.

And when you really think about the 9-11 event, the horrific attack on our land here in America and the death of three thousand of out loved ones, it was a defining moment.

But, we have had the debate in our country now for a number of years as to whether or not free trade agreements are good for economic growth and economic opportunity in creating jobs and lifting people out of poverty.

The U.S. views Morocco as an important friend, and we applaud your political and economic reforms that culminated with the recent parliamentary elections that were widely reported to have been conducted in a fair and open manner.

I am on my way to Ghana tomorrow morning and you just need to know that this Administration is very focused on doing all we can to promote economic development in this part of the world, in Africa, throughout Africa, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.

You will see the President being very, very tough on spending.

This is my first opportunity to visit this part of North Africa, so I am going to be able to go back home and talk about this beautiful country and encourage Americans to travel here.

There are opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry, the insurance industry, so yes back home we are talking about investment opportunities in Morocco for various sectors of our economy and we will continue to do that.

When you poll all of the economists, uh, across America that I think are intellectually honest they would all, or maybe not all, but 95% of them 96% of them would say you know we really have got a powerful economy.

I will stay very focused on my responsibilities as Secretary of Commerce and the economy’s doing well. I mean, you asked about some of the challenges that we have or what is going on in the world and you know I, I’m pleased to report that the economy is doing extremely well.

I will continue to stay very focused on the economy.

And so there are so many good things going on all across Iraq and unfortunately that’s not what the American people see on TV or they don’t read a lot about it in the newspapers.

Well, you can, but tell you this, that when you’ve got an economy that is growing at 4.9% it is the fastest growth over the last 12 months we’ve seen in 20 years.

As President Bush has said on numerous occasions, it is the government’s role to create the conditions, the friendly environment, that will attract capital.

You mentioned the Free Trade Agreement and yes I can’t tell you how pleased we are that Morocco is one of the countries that our country is going to begin negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with.

As far as Iraq is concerned, let’s not forget what the UNSCR is about, that the main consideration in Iraq is that there is a leader who has been developing weapons of mass destruction, and has been violating UN resolutions for over a decade.

This is my first visit to Africa, a region where President Bush has voiced a deep passion for fostering and encouraging economic development, investment and trade.

I am going to be announcing today that we will have a business delegation come to this country sometime in the future where we will bring businesses from America to Morocco to show them the vast business opportunities here.

Laura Bush is the same way. I mean, they both, um, understand, they understand the challenges of the moment and understand the responsibilities, he understands the responsibilities he has to protect the national security of America as well as the economic security of America.

As you know, I spent 30 years of my life in the private sector.

All Moroccans are justifiably proud of the development of democratic institutions in Morocco.