The Middle East, with the elections for a new Israeli Prime Minister, and the implications of last week's verdict in the Lockerbie Trial for the lifting of sanctions against Libya will top the agenda of British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook’s visit to the US Monday, according to the minister in a statement to the Times, cited by Iran’s news agency (IRNA)
The British minister also told BBC he expected to discuss the crisis in the Middle East, the attitude to adopt towards Libya after the Lockerbie trial and US engagement in the Balkans, according to AFP.
The two countries demand that Libya take responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing and pay compensation to the 270 victims' families.
Cook sought to play down developing a rift with the new Bush Administration over its controversial plans for a National Missile Defense (NMD) and the creation of a European reaction force.
He said the above issues are “more urgent.”
NMD would not be high on the agenda of his three-day visit, he told newspaper before departing. He also said he does "not anticipate the US will have any difficulty with document agreed at Nice" on the European Union force.
During his visit to Washington, which precedes Prime Minister Tony Blair's trip to meet President George W Bush later this month, Cook is meeting Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rica, said the agency.
"We will certainly carry out a dialogue and have an exchange of views. But let's be clear it is a United States debate. This is not a British debate or a debate between Britain and the United States," Cook told the radio – Albawaba.com
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