Digest of Other White House Announcements

The following list includes the President’s public schedule and other items of general interest announced by the Office of the Press Secretary and not included elsewhere in this issue.

December 7

In the morning, the President had intelligence briefings. Later, he traveled to Camp David, MD.

December 8

In the afternoon, the President returned to Washington, DC.

In the evening, the President and Mrs. Bush attended the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

December 9

In the morning, the President had intelligence and FBI briefings. Later, in the Oval Office, he met with President Emomali Rahmonov of Tajikistan.

In an afternoon ceremony in the Oval Office, the President received diplomatic credentials from Ambassadors Lapologang Caesar Lekoa of Botswana, Amadou Lamine Ba of Senegal, Pedro Manuel dos Reis Alves Catarino of Portugal, Ivan Vujacic of Yugoslavia, Antoine Ntamobwa of Burundi, Roberto Danino Zapata of Peru, Antonio Arenales Forno of Guatemala, Helgi Agustsson of Iceland, and Jean-David Levitte of France.

Later in the afternoon, in the Oval Office, the President met with Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen of Finland.

The President announced his intention to appoint the following individuals as members of the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations: Margaret Cushing Whitman; Steven Rollie Rogel; Frank Henry Habicht II; Jerome Jasinowski; William Frenzel; Rodolphe Vallee; Bernard Aronson; Edward Emma; Jill Considine; Wythe Willey; Edward Perkins; Richard Rivera; Pete Hanna; John Rowland; Jean-Pierre Rosso; Hersh Kozlov; Samuel Palmisano; JoAnn Brouillette; Herbert Johnson; Hector Ruiz; Melinda Bush; Richard Wardrop, Jr.; Grace Nichols; Larry Liebenow; Michael Goldstein; Thomas Mottola; George Fitch; Luis Lauredo; James Winston Morrison; Walter Bernard Duffy Hickey, Jr.; Robert Edward Grady; and Morgan Yaping Wang.

The President declared a major disaster in Guam and ordered Federal aid to supplement Territory and local recovery efforts in the area struck by Super Typhoon Pongsona beginning on December 8 and continuing.

December 10

In the morning, the President had intelligence and FBI briefings. Later, in the Oval Office, he met with President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil.

The President announced the appointment of David G. Leitch as Deputy Counsel and Deputy Assistant to the President.

The President announced his intention to appoint Richard B. Gasaway as a member of the Medal of Valor Review Board for Firefighting.

The President announced his intention to appoint George Stuart Yount as U.S. Representative on the Governing Board of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

December 11

In the morning, the President had a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen of Denmark, President of the European Union, to express his support for Turkey’s aspirations to join the EU. He then had intelligence and FBI briefings. Later, he participated in an interview and White House tour with journalist Barbara Walters for broadcast on December 13 on ABC’s "20/20" television program.

In the afternoon, the President met with Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman, Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton, and Chairman James Connaughton of the Council on Environmental Quality to discuss implementation of the President’s Healthy Forests Initiative to reduce the threat of wildfire in the western States. Later, he attended a diplomatic corps holiday reception at Blair House.

The President announced his intention to appoint the following individuals as members of the President’s Commission on the U.S. Postal Service: James A. Johnson and Harry Pearce (Co-Chairmen); Richard C. Levin; Norman I. Seabrook; Carolyn L. Gallagher; Robert S. Walker; Joseph R. Wright; Don V. Cogman; and Dionel E. Aviles.

The President declared a major disaster in the Northern Mariana Islands and ordered Federal aid to supplement Commonwealth and local recovery efforts in the area struck by Super Typhoon Pongsona beginning on December 8 and continuing.

December 12

In the morning, the President had a telephone conversation with President Ricardo Lagos of Chile to discuss the Chile-U.S. free trade agreement that was signed on December 11. He then had intelligence and FBI briefings. Later, he traveled to Philadelphia, PA, where he went to Bright Hope Baptist Church to meet with participants in the Amachi Mentoring Program for children of prisoners.

In the afternoon, the President returned to Washington, DC. Later, he dropped by a meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council at the White House.

During the day, the President had a telephone conversation with Senator Trent Lott to discuss the Senator’s December 6 remarks at a 100th birthday celebration for Senator Strom Thurmond.

The President declared a major disaster in North Carolina and ordered Federal aid to supplement State and local recovery efforts in the area struck by a severe ice storm on December 4-6.

December 13

In the morning, the President had a telephone conversation with President Kim Dae-jung of South Korea to discuss South Korea-U.S. relations, the situation in North Korea, and President Bush’s regrets concerning the June 13 deaths of two South Korean girls, Shim Mi-Sun and Shin Hyo-Son, as a result of an accident during a U.S. military training exercise in Seoul, South Korea. President Bush then had intelligence and FBI briefings.

In the afternoon, the President traveled to Camp David, MD.

The White House announced that the President will travel to Africa on January 10-17, 2003, where he will open the second U.S.-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum (AGOA Forum) in Mauritius.