Clinton’s Europe tour under way
Story from BBC NEWS:
europe/8300376.stm
Published: 2009/10/10 16:15:50 GMT
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived in Switzerland at the
start of a five-day tour of Europe.
In Zurich, she will witness the signing of a historic pact between
Turkey and Armenia to normalise relations after a century of hostility.
She is to meet British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Sunday in London,
where the Afghan war is expected to be high on the agenda.
On Monday, she will address the Northern Ireland assembly in Belfast.
Visiting Russia for the first time as chief US diplomat, Mrs Clinton
will hold talks on Iran’s disputed nuclear programme with Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow on Tuesday.
She is expected to press the Russian leader for a strong commitment for
tough new sanctions on Tehran.
Officials say she will also raise other issues, including arms control,
missile defence, and cooperation to convince North Korea to abandon
nuclear weapons.
Mrs Clinton returns to Washington late on Wednesday, after visiting
Russia’s mainly Muslim city of Kazan.
But her first order of business is to attend the signing ceremony in
Zurich of the Turkish-Armenian normalisation pact.
The US State Department said Mrs Clinton had been closely engaged with
the parties to move the process along and was attending the ceremony to
show Washington’s support for the historic agreement, says the BBC’s
Kim Ghattas.