(4 May 2006)
1. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her delegation walking towards White House
2. Wide of Merkel seated with US President George Bush
3. SOUNBITE (English): George W Bush, US President:
"I did want to mention that we did talk about a couple of very important subjects, obviously we spent a lot of time on Iran, after all we are close allies and trying to make sure that the Iranians do not develop a nuclear weapon. We talked about the Doha round for the WTO and I appreciated the chancellor''s willingness to work not only with the Europeans but with countries like Brazil and others to see if we can bring this round to a favourable conclusion."
4. Wide of Merkel and Bush
5. SOUNBITE (German): Angela Merkel, German Chancellor:
(Starts as mid shot of Bush then pans to Merkel)
"Thank you very much, it was a pleasure to come back. I think during the past months we developed a good, amicable partnership helped by a series of telephone conversations as well. We have indeed talked about Iran and we agree totally that Iran should never possess nuclear weapons."
6. Wide of Merkel and Bush
7. SOUNBITE (German): Angela Merkel, German Chancellor:
"We agree that we must find diplomatic solutions and I see a fair chance for that, but it is clear, that the decidedness of the international community must be shown by closeness, we have to show to Iran with most partners possible and with closeness what requirements we have."
8. Wide of Merkel and Bush
STORYLINE:
US President George W Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met in Washington, DC, on Wednesday to talk over trans-Atlantic unity in a push for possible UN sanctions to stifle Iran''s nuclear ambitions.
Merkel''s meeting with Bush follows her visit last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia and China, permanent members of the UN Security Council with veto power, oppose sanctions against Iran, which rejected a council deadline that it stop uranium enrichment that could produce material usable in nuclear weapons.
Britain, France, Germany and the United States say they will seek to make the demand on uranium enrichment compulsory.
Bush said: "We spent a lot of time on Iran, after all we are close allies and trying to make sure that the Iranians do not develop a nuclear weapon."
Merkel said that the decidedness of the international community must be followed by closeness, "we have to show to Iran with most partners possible and with closeness what requirements we have" she said.
This is Merkel''s second visit with Bush in four months.
The two also are to discuss the Middle East, Darfur, trade, Merkel''s scheduled visit to China next month and July''s Group of Eight industrialised nations summit meeting in Russia.
Merkel and Bush had a friendly meeting during the chancellor''s first trip in January, despite her criticism of the of the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
It was a sharp contrast to the chill that existed between Bush and Merkel''s predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, who was a vigorous critic of the war in Iraq.
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