WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (AFP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will kick off her stewardship of US foreign policy with a week-long tour of eight European countries and the Middle East, officials here said Thursday.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Rice would leave next Thursday on a trip to Britain, Germany, Poland, Turkey, Israel, the West Bank, Italy, France, Belgium and Luxembourg in roughly that order.
Rice, who took over as chief US diplomat on Thursday, will speak with leaders in each country on a range of issues and lay the groundwork for President George W. Bush's tour of Europe from February 22 to 25.
"During the course of her visit, she intends to promote President Bush's vision of democracy and freedom as the keys to peace and prosperity," Boucher told reporters.
Bush has expressed hope for mending US alliances bruised by the Iraq war, and Boucher said Rice and her designated deputy Robert Zoellick hoped to visit all 26 NATO countries by the spring.
Among the topics she will discuss in her initial foray will be the fight against terrorism, cooperation on the Middle East peace process, nuclear non-proliferation and the development of European institutions, he said.
Boucher said European efforts to persuade Iran to renounce its nuclear weapons ambitions would likely be on the agenda as would EU plans to lift a 15-year-old arms embargo on China.
In the Middle East, Rice planned to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to keep up the momentum in the peace process, which has shown new life since Mahmud Abbas replaced the late Yasser Arafat as Palestinin president.
Boucher said the trip reflected Rice's pledge, made in her Senate confirmation hearings, to take a direct role in efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The spokesman said these trips were "a sign of her ongoing personal involvement in the process of ... taking advantage of every opportunity to move forward."
The announcement of the grueling trip came as Rice started work at the State Department to replace Colin Powell as Bush's top envoy after four years as his national security adviser.
Bush is due to travel next month to Brussels, the headquarters of NATO and the European Union, and then on to Germany and to Slovakia for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
01/27/2005 19:13 GMT - AFP