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British Foreign Secretary in first official trip to US
( 2001-07-12 13:11 ) (7 )

Straw, appointed after Prime Minister Tony Blair's crushing general election victory last month, met Secretary of State Colin Powell, and President George W. Bush's National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.

Powell met Straw on the sidelines of recent NATO talks in Brussels and European Union meetings in Sweden, but the British foreign secretary was making his first solo trip overseas since taking the job last month.

Straw pledged to work to maintain the "uniquely close relationship" between the United States and Britain. British officials have tried to carve out a role as a bridge between the European Union and Washington.

He joined Powell in voicing strong support for the EU-US brokered talks in Skopje aimed at ending an Albanian ethnic insurgency in Macedonia.

"The only way forward in Macedonia is through these negotiations," Straw said.

"Now, it often happens in such situations of conflict that there are highs and lows in the negotiations, but currently they are in a better position than I think many of us expected or feared two or three weeks ago."

Powell said Straw had shown himself to be a "tough" in his former role as Britain's Home Secretary (Interior Minister) and said he was pleased that Straw had chosen the United States to hold his first bilateral visit.

"This is an important comment on the crucial nature as well as the strength of the US-UK relationship," said Powell.

"The Foreign Secretary and I had the opportunity to discuss the current situation in the Balkans and especially Macedonia, we reviewed our mutual efforts on Iraq and the Middle East," he said.

Powell said he and Straw would also discuss the future of NATO, missile defense and security policy at a later lunch meeting with Straw.

Straw earlier visited Rice at the White House.

"Among the issues which I discussed was Iraq, Middle East peace process, relationship with Russia including questions of the nuclear missile defenses and issues of climate change," he said.

"On each of those subjects, we were coming at common problems and looking at common solutions," he told reporters.