U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel to Israel and the West Bank as well as eight European countries next month as part of her first major trip since taking over as the top U.S. diplomat, the State Department said Thursday. The seven-day trip is to begin February 3 and was aimed at promoting President George W. Bush's policy to promote democracy and freedom and work on an international agenda for this year with her European counterparts, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. The topics will include the Middle East peace process, Iraq, Afghanistan, the war on terrorism, and combating disease and poverty, Boucher said. In Europe, she is to visit Britain, Germany, Poland, Italy, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Turkey, he said. While in Paris, Rice plans to deliver a foreign policy speech, a senior State Department official said. During his second term, Bush has pledged to restrengthen ties with European countries, such as France and Germany, after relations were badly frayed over the Iraq war. The president himself will travel to Europe later in February in his first major trip abroad since being sworn in to a second term last week. His trip will include a stop in Germany. --SP 2314 Local Time 2014 GMT
