AFP: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Germany on Thursday for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German government said on Friday.
BERLIN, March 24, 2006 (AFP) – US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Germany on Thursday for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German government said on Friday.
Their talks will cover a wide range of topics, including the Iranian nuclear crisis, government spokesman Thomas Steg told a press conference.
He said Rice’s trip would also help prepare the way for Merkel’s next visit to the United States in May when she is to attend the 100th anniversary celebrations for the American Jewish Committee in New York.
No press conference was planned during Rice’s visit.
Diplomatic sources said she would arrive in and leave Germany the same day. It was not immediately clear whether she would be visiting any other country.
Rice last came to Germany in December at the height of the controversy over European countries’ reported involvement in clandestine CIA flights.