Rice Trip Planned As �Extended Conversation� on Mideast, Iraq
Secretary also will lead delegation to Lebanon donors� conference in Paris

By Stephen Kaufman
USINFO Staff Writer

Washington -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be visiting the Middle East and Europe beginning January 12 for consultations with regional leaders on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iraq and other issues, the State Department announced January 9.

According to spokesman Sean McCormack, the secretary will be visiting Jerusalem; the West Bank city of Ramallah; Sharm El Sheik, Egypt; Amman, Jordan; Kuwait City; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; London and Berlin before returning to Washington January 19.

McCormack later said Rice is expected to have �extended conversations� with her counterparts and regional leaders on how to confront common threats such as Iranian activities and violent extremism, as well as how to �exploit this opening that we believe exists� in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and supporting moderate governments in the region such as Lebanon and Iraq. (See related article.)

�I would expect that this is a trip that is more about laying the foundations for potential future actions than actually coming to closure on any particular agreements,� he said.

In Kuwait, Rice will be attending a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council plus Egypt and Jordan (GCC+2), McCormack added. The GCC consists of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Rice�s trip begins one day after her January 11 testimony before two committees of the new 110th U.S. Congress during which she is expected to discuss Iraq and other foreign policy issues.

In a separate statement, McCormack announced that Secretary Rice will lead the U.S. delegation to the International Conference for Support to Lebanon in Paris January 24-25 and attend its working session. There, she will be meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, as well as private-sector senior executives who are involved in the rebuilding of Lebanon.

For more information on U.S. policy, see Lebanon Assistance and The Middle East: A Vision for the Future.
http://usinfo.state.gov/mena/lebanon.html 

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