These are edited versions of the President's and the Prime Minister's speeches at their joint press conference:
BUSH: opening remarks:
Our two countries are joined in large tasks because we share fundamental convictions. We believe that free nations have the responsibility to confront terrorism. We believe free nations must oppose the spread of weapons of mass destruction. And we believe that free nations must advance human rights and dignity across the world. We believe that the just demands of the international community must be enforced, not ignored.
At this moment, our military forces are fighting side-by-side in Iraq to defend our security and to free that nation from oppression.
Our governments are working to help bring about a settlement in the Middle East that protects the rights of Israelis and Palestinians, that promotes the peace, that promotes security, that promotes human dignity.
In Northern Ireland the Prime Minister and I are committed to helping the parties take the final steps toward a lasting peace.
Later this week, Prime Minister Blair and the Taoiseach will release a plan setting out the remaining actions that must be taken to realise the promise of the Good Friday agreement. I support and my government strongly supports their efforts. This is an historic moment. And I ask all the communities of Northern Ireland to seize this opportunity for peace.
Prime Minister Blair and I are also reviewing the course of the battle in Iraq. Our armed services are conducting themselves with great courage and, at the same time, great humanity.
We share sacrifices. We share grief. We pray for those families who mourn the loss of life. As this war has progressed, the world has witnessed the brutal desperation and the true character of the Iraqi regime.
The world is also witnessing the liberation and humanitarian aid our coalition is bringing to that country as a new day begins in Iraq. In fighting this war, we're taking every precaution to protect innocent life.
After the current regime is removed, our coalition will work to restore electricity and water supplies, medical care and other essential services in Iraq.
We'll move as quickly as possible to place governmental responsibilities under the control of an interim authority, composed of Iraqis from both inside and outside the country. The interim authority will serve until a permanent government can be chosen by the Iraqi people. A free Iraq will be ruled by laws, not by a dictator. A free Iraq will give up all its weapons of mass destruction, a free Iraq will set itself on the path to democracy. The end of Saddam's regime will also remove a source of violence and instability in the Middle East.
Prime Minister Blair and I are committed to implementing the road map toward peace, to bring closer the day when two states -- Israel and Palestine -- live in peace and stability.
Peace in the Middle East will require overcoming deep divisions of history and religion. Yet we know this is possible; it is happening in Northern Ireland.
BLAIR:opening remarks
It is both significant and welcome that the President is here in person to give once more his support and to join with me and later today with the Irish Taoiseach in urging the parties to take the final steps towards a lasting peace here in Northern Ireland.
It's also perhaps fitting that here in Northern Ireland a good part of our discussion focused on the Middle East. It's not so many years ago that it would have been said that the peace process here was in far worse shape than the process out in the Middle East.
Yet here we are for all the difficulties in Northern Ireland able to point back to real improvements in the security and the standard of living of people here, and to point forward to turning process into lasting change, lasting security and lasting peace, which is what people what to see here. And we've made that progress because of patience and perseverance and because friends like those in the United States of America have helped us get there.
I want to thank the President also for the impetus he has given to the two-state solution in the Middle East that he outlined last June, a secure Israel and a viable Palestinian state, and for his decision that the road map be published. Of course, our discussions have naturally continued to focus upon Iraq, upon the continuing military campaign where, once again, our forces have performed superbly, and I want to pay tribute to the US, UK and other coalition forces.
In all parts of the country our power is strengthening, the regime is weakening, the Iraqi people are turning towards us. I'd like to pay tribute to the professionalism and the compassion that they continue to show.
On weapons of mass destruction, we know that the regime has them. We know that as the regime collapses, we will be led to them. We pledged to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction and we will keep that commitment.
So much of our discussion today has focused on how we continue to get vital supplies of food, water and medicines to them and how we help the process of transition to the day when Iraq is governed by the Iraqi people for the Iraqi people.
As we said, our forces will not stay in Iraq a day longer than is necessary. We will take on the legal and moral obligations that will fall to us as the forces on the ground to stabilise the country, to keep basic services going, to protect civilian life.
Then we will help Iraq move as swiftly as possible to an interim authority run by Iraqis and that, in turn, is designed to pave the way for a truly representative government which respects human rights and the rule of law, which spends Iraq's wealth not on palaces and weapons of mass destruction, but on the well-being, prosperity of the people of Iraq.
And this new Iraq that will emerge is not to be run either by us or, indeed, by the UN. That is a false choice. It will run by the Iraqi people.
And we are, of course, agreed, as we say in our joint statement, that there will be a vital role for the United Nations in the reconstruction of Iraq, but the key is that Iraq, in the end, should be governed by the Iraqi people.