U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, paid her visit to Stockholm, Sweden June 3rd during her current European tour. During the course of a week, Clinton will visit Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey for meetings and press conferences. The activities began May 31st in Copenhagen and throughout the seven-country tour regional security, democracy, economic development and counter-terrorism will be discussed.
While in Stockholm, Clinton met with the Swedish Minister of Defense, the Foreign Minister, the Prime Minister and Minister of the Environment. Following meetings and discussions, a press conference was held at Rosenbad in Stockholm. Present, Hillary Clinton, herself, Swedish Prime Minister Reinfeldt and Foreign Minister Bildt discussed Syria in terms of “an urgent need to stop violence by the Assad regime against its own people” and in great support of the Kofi Annan plan. The current climate in the European economic crisis was also noted and reference was made to the crisis as the consequences of “poor public finances and competition throughout Europe.” Clinton also commented on Sweden’s involvement in NATO, such as support for measurements relating to the political transition in Afghanistan, the protection of the Libyan people and its offer to work with NATO through the Nordic Center for Gender in Military Operations, Sweden’s exemplary leadership on internet security issues in regards to the Global Coalition for Freedom of the Net, and current issues on human rights in Iran.
In continuance of this tour, the U.S. Secretary of State has moved on to Armenia to meet with President, Serzh Sarkisian and other officials. Later, the trip will conclude with visits to the US-Georgia Strategic Partnership Commission Plenary session in Georgia, a meeting with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and an appearance as co-chair at the Global Counterterrorism Forum ministerial meeting in Istanbul.
Read the official press release here >>>
Written by: Diandra Silva, SACC-USA
