The United States and Europe are solidifying ties with neighbors, the U.S. Secretary of State said.
“We are working as a wider group, including with our friends in Finland and Sweden, who have been indispensable partners throughout this recent crisis. We are backing worthy initiatives, like Norway’s High North policy,” Condoleezza Rice said in her address to the German Marshall Fund.
“We are working to resolve other regional disputes, such as Nagorno Karabakh, and to build with friends and allies like Turkey a foundation for cooperation in the Caucasus. And we will not allow Russia to wield a veto over the future of the Euro-Atlantic community – neither what states are offered membership, nor the choice of states that accept it. We have made this particularly clear to our friends in Ukraine,” she said, the State Department’s press center reported.
“The United States and Europe are deepening our cooperation in pursuit of greater energy independence – working with Azerbaijan, and Georgia, and Turkey, and the Caspian countries. We will expand and defend open global energy in the economy from abusive practices. There cannot be one set of rules for Russia, Inc. – and another for everyone else,” Secretary Rice said.
