Rice and Douste-Blazy concentrate on Lebanon

Remarks With French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy

Secretary Condoleezza Rice
New York City
May 9, 2006

I am delighted to once again welcome my colleague, the French Foreign
Minister,
Philippe Douste-Blazy, who joined me for dinner. This is one of several
meals
that we've had together. We were, of course, together last night in
discussions about how to convince Iran that it must live up to the
obligations
that the international community has put on it.

We had very fruitful discussions and tonight we will, of course, have an
opportunity to discuss further issues, the Middle East, and I think in
particular we will have a chance to concentrate on Syria and Lebanon. We --
the United States and France -- have worked very closely together and very
hard
to see the emergence of a free and democratic and sovereign Lebanon. We
have
been the sponsors of UN Security Council resolutions and tonight we will
review
the situation on Lebanon, how to support the sovereign Lebanese Government
and
how to make certain that Syria lives up to its international obligations.