Hillary Clinton to discuss regional issues in Armenia

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is to travel to Ukraine, Poland, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia from July 1 to 5, said on the Department of State’s official web-site.

In Kyiv, Secretary Clinton will open the second meeting of the Strategic Partnership Commission and meet with government officials, including President Yanukovych and Foreign Minister Gryshchenko, and with civil society and independent media leaders. In Krakow, Secretary Clinton will participate in the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Community of Democracies, an organization initiated by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and her Polish counterpart Bronislaw Geremek in 2000. Secretary Clinton will also meet with Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski.

The Secretary will continue on to Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia, where she will hold meetings with government officials and civil society leaders to discuss bilateral issues, as well as issues related to regional peace and stability.

Briefing reporters on the trip, Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Philip Gordon said the Obama administration is dissatisfied with Russia's failure to date to live up to cease-fire requirements.

"We respect Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and we call on Russia to abide by its commitments in the August 2008 cease-fire, which not only called for the non-use of force and an end to hostilities, but called upon the parties to move their military forces back to where they were before the conflict began, and that hasn't been done," Philip Gordon is quoted as saying.

Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that talks in Yerevan will be aimed at items of development and strengthening of Armenia-US relations and partnership. Among highlights there will be regional and international issues of mutual interest, he said.

The trip will be Clinton's first travel to the Caucasus region since taking office.