Mon May 21, 4:22 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice will make a brief visit to Spain next week, the State
Department said on Monday, her first to Madrid as the top U.S. diplomat
after years of tense relations.
U.S.-Spanish ties have been particularly strained since Spain withdrew
its troops from
Iraq in 2004 following the election of Prime Minister Jose Luis
Rodriguez Zapatero who trounced Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, a close
ally of
President George W. Bush.
"Every relationship has some bumps in the road, but you work through
those in a respectful way and try to build up mutual understanding so
you don't talk past one another," State Department spokesman Sean
McCormack said of Rice's visit.
Aside from Iraq, the two countries have differences over Cuba, with
Spain favoring constructive engagement versus the Bush administration's
isolation policy. There have also been tensions over Madrid's dealings
with Venezuela's strongly anti-U.S. President Hugo Chavez.
McCormack said Rice, who would be in Madrid for only a few hours on June
1, planned to meet her counterpart Miguel Angel Moratinos to discuss
issues from trade and counter-terrorism to transatlantic relations.
"So this is just an opportunity for her to sit down with Foreign
Minister Moratinos, as well as other members of the Spanish government,
to talk through those issues," he added.
Before going to Spain, Rice is scheduled to visit Potsdam, Germany, to
join ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations before a
summit next month of presidents of the G8.
Iran's nuclear ambitions,
Afghanistan, the future of
Kosovo, climate change and a host of other issues are expected to be on
the G8 agenda, McCormack said.
After Germany, Rice is set to visit Vienna for a round-table with women
political leaders who will discuss peace and security issues in the
Middle East, said McCormack.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Egypt's Suzanne Mubarak, President
Hosni Mubarak's wife, are among Middle Eastern political figures
expected to attend that event along with Rice.
Rice held a networking session with women leaders on the sidelines of
the U.N. General Assembly last September and the Vienna meeting is a
follow on from that, said McCormack.
No comments:
Post a Comment