Friday, March 25, 2005

Secretary Rice remarks on Kosovo after meeting with the Foreign Minister of Greece

QUESTION: Hello, I have a question for Madame Secretary. I heard both of you telling us about the working together on strategic areas. Could you be more specific where Greece and the United States could work together?

SECRETARY RICE: Of course. First of all, we did talk about our joint responsibilities as members of NATO and the responsibilities that we hold in trying to promote stable and progressive developments in the Balkans. That is a place where we've had very, very good cooperation and where it's extremely important that that process move forward. We have some reports that will be coming forward, for instance, on Kosovo. We believe that this is an area that is ripe for cooperation between Greece and the United States, as well as the other members of NATO.

I can remember quite well, for instance, at our recent NATO ministerial that we talked about the need for there to be constant dialogue and discussion as we move forward through the spring on the situation in Kosovo. We also talked about the Mediterranean, where we share interest and where there are now very active movements toward democracy, and perhaps we could find a strategic common purpose there. The Foreign Minister also talked about what they might be able -- what Greece might be able to do as we continue to try to stabilize Afghanistan and as we try to provide for the Iraqi people support for their newly elected transitional government.

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