FM begins visit to Washington
Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis yesterday identified the nationalistic stance of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and achieving good-neighborly relations with Turkey as Greece’s main foreign policy concerns during a speech at influential Washington think tank the Brookings Institution. Bakoyannis is making the first visit by a Greek official to Washington since Barack Obama became president. She called on Skopje to match Greece’s compromises on the name issue. The minister also reaffirmed Greece’s support for Turkey’s accession to the European Union but emphasized that a solution on Cyprus must first be found. Bakoyannis is due to meet with Obama’s national security adviser, General James L. Jones, today as well as representatives of Congress’s foreign affairs committees. She is due to hold talks with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tomorrow.
