Clinton in talks in Norway
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Norwegian officials Friday as she toured Scandinavia to praise the work of key U.S. partners in a range of global hotspots.
She opened a meeting with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Stoere thanking Norway for its "great cooperation and solidarity on a full range of issues that are of great significance to each of us."
Clinton, who was to meet later in the day with Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and King Harald V, has used her visit here and to Denmark Thursday to express appreciation for the role the two NATO allies have played in Afghanistan.
But the trip, which will take her to neutral Sweden over the weekend, has also been overshadowed by U.S. tensions with Russia over its defense of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad in the face of continuing bloodshed there.
In Copenhagen, she charged that Moscow was propping up the Assad regime, helping to push Syria toward a destabilizing civil war, and said she would be paying particular attention to Russia in her talks over the next several days.
"We have to bring the Russians on board because the dangers we face are terrible," Clinton said.
A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, said Moscow would not yield to pressure on Syria.
Besides Syria, Clinton has also spotlighted cooperation with the Scandinavian countries on the environment, including climate change and clean energy, and development issues.
She was to deliver a speech at a global health conference dedicated to maternal and child health.
After her meetings, she was to travel to Tromso, a city on the Arctic Circle, to discuss the effects of climate change in the potentially energy-rich region.
After Scandinavia, Clinton travels to the Caucasus with stops in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan before winding up the nine-day trip in Turkey.
Source: Agence France Presse
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