Foreign ministry spokesman George Koumoutsakos on Friday outlined the agenda for the talks between Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis and U.S. officials - including U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - during her upcoming visit to the United States.

Apart from Greek-U.S. bilateral relations, he said these will also cover matters of regional or international interest with emphasis on the western Balkans, Kosovo and the negotiations currently underway under the auspices of the United Nations to resolve a dispute between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) regarding its use of the name 'Macedonia'.

Koumoutsakos announced that Bakoyannis will travel to the U.S. directly from Malta, where she is due to attend a council of EU and Arab League foreign ministers, accompanied by Deputy Foreign Minister Yiannis Valinakis.

On February 13, the Greek foreign minister will speak at an event held in her honour by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington and will then meet with the White House's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. This meeting will be followed by a visit to the Pentagon, where she will meet Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England.

Her meeting with Rice will take place on February 14 at the U.S. State Department and will be preceded by meetings with Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and the leadership of the Congressional committee for Foreign Affairs.

While in Washington, the minister is scheduled to meet the leaderships of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and of the House Committee for Foreign Affairs, the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services and members of Congress, in the presence of House Speaker Nancy Pelosy.

Source: Athens News Agency

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