UNITED STATES: BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY ROBIN COOK PREPARES FOR TALKS IN WASHINGTON WITH NEW U.S. ADMINISTRATION

Record ID: 222965

  • Title: UNITED STATES: BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY ROBIN COOK PREPARES FOR TALKS IN WASHINGTON WITH NEW U.S. ADMINISTRATION
  • Date: 5th February 2001
  • Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (FEBRUARY 5, 2001) (REUTERS -- ACCESS ALL) 1. SV: BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY ROBIN COOK WALKING UP STEPS 0.05 2. SCU: CAMERA OPERATOR 0.08 3. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY ROBIN COOK SAYING, "I welcome this opportunity to visit the new administration and President Bush. I look forward to establishing with Secretary of State Colin Powell the same relationship of mutual trust and private confidence that I had with the previous administration. Britain needs to protect the security interest it has in common with the United States and Britain wants to promote the democratic values that it holds in common with the American people. That is why we are natural allies. Under Tony Blair, Britain has established a leading role within the European Union. Our close relations with the U.S. and our good standing in Europe enable us to play a pivotal role between our friends on both sides of the Atlantic. Britain will use that role to make sure that we strengthen the Atlantic partnership. I have a full agenda over the next few days -- both with the administration and on the Hill (Capitol Hill). I want to discuss the areas of mutual concern- what we demand of the government of Libya in light of the guilty verdict in the Lockerbie trial, how we work to insure that Europe's capacity for crisis management and also how together we build on the success of what we have achieved in the Balkans so that it becomes a region of stability and of freedom." 1.38 4. SV: REPORTER ASKING QUESTION 1.41 5. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY ROBIN COOK SAYING, "Of course, it is not in our interest that the United States should feel in any way that its own security is compromised. It will be some months before we come to an agreement on the technical evaluation of the system and before we access the external threat -- there are many other issues to be examined -- as well consultations with Russia and its allies. Any other questions?" / COOK WALKS AWAY 2.25 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 20th February 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA4ZYII30CXWO2PVJWT2EPJ9T3V
  • Story Text: The Bush administration's first steps in foreign and security
    policy have spread a mixture of alarm and reassurance
    among European NATO allies -- but the alarm is making
    all the headlines.

    Washington's determination to develop an anti-missile
    defence, and its concern about a planned European Union
    military rapid reaction force, have prompted talk of a crisis
    in NATO.

    While some symptoms of a potential transatlantic rift are
    visible, both sides have too much at stake to risk a serious
    bust-up, and there is plenty of time to seek consensus.

    The debate has only just begun.

    Other signals from the new U.S. leadership should reassure
    those Europeans and Americans who fear that "the pond is
    growing wider".

    Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the first member of the
    Bush team to visit Europe, promised at the weekend to consult
    allies and partners about the administration's missile defence
    plans and made clear a revised programme was still in the
    early stage of definition and a long way from being
    implemented.

    Rumsfeld indicated that the Bush administration had not
    yet decided whether it would go ahead with the troubled
    programme, frozen by former President Bill Clinton last year,
    to build a National Missile Defence (NMD) with land-based
    interceptor missiles to protect the continental United States.


    British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, in Washington for
    talks on Monday (February 5, 2001), stressed in weekend
    interviews that the United States was still a long way from
    deciding what kind of system it wanted, and it would be
    premature for European allies to respond before they were
    asked.
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