Clinton Arrives in Portugal for U.S.-EU SummitU.S. President Bill Clinton started his official visit to Portugal Tuesday, and he will participate in the U.S.-EU summit, a biennial meeting between the two largest trading blocs to be held on Wednesday.Upon his arrival, Clinton met Portuguese president Jorge Sampaio and prime minister Antonio Guterres to exchange views on issues of bilateral relations and regional conflicts. The Portugal leaders asked the U.S. to continue its important role in normalizing the situation in East Timor and in solving the problems in Angola and other African countries, local reports said. Prime minister Guterres, just back from the EU-Russia Summit in Moscow, also discussed with Clinton the matter concerning "a constructive and responsible role" that Russia should play in the Balkan area, according to Jaime Gama, Portuguese minister of foreign affairs. Gama signed three treaties on the opening of air links between the two nations with Madeleine Korbel Albright, U.S. secretary of state on Tuesday. Clinton's visit, which also includes Germany, Russia and Ukraine, is the first in 15 years for a U.S. president to be in this southern European nation. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/ |