FM happy with US trip results
Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis will conclude his meetings with high UN and US officials today with a session with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, a ceremonial affair at the White House with President George W. Bush to celebrate Greece’s Independence Day – which may also include a brief private meeting – and a meeting with newly appointed Undersecretary for Political Affairs R. Nicholas Burns, who was US ambassador to Greece from 1997 to 2001. Although no progress has been made on any issue directly concerning Greece, Molyviatis professes to be satisfied, especially with his meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who called Greece the Americans’ most important ally in the Balkans. Although no items that could cause potential embarrassment – such as the reunification of Cyprus – were on the agenda, Molyviatis believes that the US administration is no longer suspicious of the Greek conservative government’s willingness to engage in dialogue as deeply as its PASOK predecessor.
