Rice to prepare Bush summit with EU

BRUSSELS, Jan 28 (AFP) - New US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet European Union (EU) leaders in Luxembourg next month to prepare a landmark summit trip by President George W. Bush, officials said Friday.
Rice will travel to Luxembourg, which currently holds the EU's presidency, on February 9 and 10, two weeks before President George W. Bush arrives here for EU and NATO summits.
She will notably meet Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, the EU presidency said.
At NATO diplomats indicated that Rice, on her first trip since taking office, would visit the military alliance's Brussels headquarters on February 9, although this was not official confirmed.
Bush is due in Brussels on February 22 for summits at NATO and the EU, in what Washington is billing as a strong sign of his desire to rebuild ties with Europe seriously damaged by the Iraq war.
The US president will have dinner on the evening of February 21 with French President Jacques Chirac, who led a group of countries fiercely opposed to the 2003 conflict.
Rice's NATO and EU stopovers will be part of an eight-country tour starting Thursday and taking in Britain, Germany, Poland, Turkey, Israel, the West Bank, Italy and France, as well as Belgium and Luxembourg.

01/28/2005 10:53 GMT - AFP