EGYPT: U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL ARRIVES IN CAIRO TO BEGIN HIS FIRST MIDDLE EAST VISIT
Record ID:
222844
EGYPT: U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL ARRIVES IN CAIRO TO BEGIN HIS FIRST MIDDLE EAST VISIT
- Title: EGYPT: U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL ARRIVES IN CAIRO TO BEGIN HIS FIRST MIDDLE EAST VISIT
- Date: 24th February 2001
- Summary: CAIRO, EGYPT (FEBRUARY 24, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV: PLANE TAXIING TO TERMINAL 0.11 2. SV: GROUND STAFF CHOCKING WHEELS 0.17 3. LV: CARS AROUND PLANE 0.34 3. MV: U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL DESCENDS STAIRS FROM AIRCRAFT 0.49 4. MV'S: POWELL ENTERS CAR AND IS DRIVEN AWAY (2 SHOTS) 1.20 5. WS: OF TERMINAL BUILDING 1.25 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 11th March 2001 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: CAIRO, EGYPT
- Country: Egypt
- Reuters ID: LVA49FICIXJYBJJO5ZERYME1LW6J
- Story Text: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has arrived in
Cairo, marking the start of his first trip to the Middle East,
with his attention fully fixed on rebuilding a crumbling
alliance behind economic sanctions on Iraq.
The United States said on Saturday (February 24) that
a Russian missile defence proposal did not look like a
credible alternative to the missile defence system which the
U.S. administration wants to develop.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, en route to his
first meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov in
Cairo on Saturday, said: "My first reading of it is there
isn't a lot there yet that we can get our teeth into."
"It really talks about a different kind of system, more
oriented toward weapon systems that might provide theater
defence," he told reporters on his plane from Washington.
Theatre defence is the military jargon for protecting
relatively small areas. The U.S. missile defence system would
be designed to cover all the territory of the United States.
The Russians gave some details of the proposal to NATO
Secretary-General George Robertson in Moscow earlier this
month as an alternative to U.S. plans, which Russia strongly
opposes.
The United States has welcomed the fact that Russia has
offered a proposal, saying that Russia now recognizes the
threat from countries developing long-range missiles.
Powell said he would explain to Ivanov why the United
States is intent on building its own system over the
objections of Russia, China and many West Europeans.
Powell said his meeting with Ivanov would be a "get
acquainted session" and the start of the engagement between
the new Bush administration and the Putin government in
Moscow.
Powell left the United States on Friday (February 23) to
go and listen to the proposals of the parties involved in the
Arab-Israeli conflict but in the absence of an Israeli
government, U.S. officials do not expect any bold U.S.
initiatives.
As well as meeting Ivanov, the other stops on Powell's
four-day schedule are Jerusalem, Gaza, Amman, Kuwait, Damascus
and Riyadh, with a day in Brussels on his way home on Tuesday.
President George W. Bush said on Thursday that Powell
would "listen to our allies as to how best to effect a policy"
towards Iraq based on preventing Iraq from developing weapons
of mass destruction or threatening its neighbours.
The challenge for the United States is to stop Iraq
obtaining military technologies while ensuring that Baghdad
cannot blame sanctions for the hardships of ordinary Iraqis.
The sanctions, first imposed in 1990 after Iraq invaded
Kuwait, have started to erode, especially with an increase of
the amount of oil Iraq exports outside the U.N. system.
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