Pompeo arrives in France on 7-nation tour
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived Saturday in Paris, at the start of a seven-country tour of Europe and the Middle East, according to The Associated Press.
The trip is aimed at shoring up the priorities of the outgoing administration of President Donald Trump.
It will include visits to Israeli settlements in the West Bank that have been avoided by previous secretaries of state.
According to The Associated Press, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian noted on Friday the “difficult subjects” on the table, from the situation in Iraq and Iran, terrorism, the Middle East and China.
”For the moment, my counterpart is Mike Pompeo, until Jan. 20 …,” Le Drian said on BFMTV, referring to the date when Trump’s term ends. “He’s coming to Paris. I receive him.”
That meeting will take place on Monday, Le Drian said, suggesting that Pompeo also will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron.
In an arrival tweet on Saturday in France, Pompeo laid out the standard diplomatic groundwork for his Paris talks, noting that France is the “oldest friend and Ally” of the US.
“The strong relationship between our countries cannot be overestimated,” he tweeted.
After France, Pompeo’s tour takes him to Turkey, Georgia, Israel, the UAE Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The leaders of all of those countries have offered public congratulations to Biden.
Palestinian officials have denounced Pompeo’s plans to visit the West Bank settlement of Psagot. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh tweeted on Friday that this was a “dangerous precedent” that legalizes settlements.
At a news conference Tuesday, Pompeo said he would carry on as if there was no change.
“I’m the secretary of state,” he said.
“I’m getting calls from all across the world. These people are watching our election. They understand that we have a legal process. They understand that this takes time.”
Yet his French counterpart Le Drian has been looking toward the future, saying last Sunday in Cairo that “we will work with the new president of the United States and his team in the framework of new trans-Atlantic relations, we will need to re-found this.”