US Secretary of State to visit Tunisia next December

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced on Friday that she intended to visit Tunisia next December to attend the 9th session of the "Forum for the Future" and discuss with Tunisian officials means to develop bilateral co-operation in all fields. At the end of the talks she had in Washington with Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem, she voiced "satisfaction at the security measures taken by Tunisian authorities to protect the US Embassy and diplomats". The Foreign Minister, on a working visit in Washington on Friday, deplored last week's violence, saying "these acts do not reflect the actual image of post-Revolution Tunisia". He reaffirmed in this respect Tunisia's commitment to protecting diplomatic missions and fighting violence whatever its origin, in compliance with the law, general liberties and human rights. According to a communiqué released on Saturday by the Foreign Ministry, the meeting allowed to stress that "the attack against the US Embassy and School in Tunis can by no means affect the close friendly relations between Tunisia and the United States". This attack, reads the communiqué, "will not demotivate Washington to carry on its support to Tunisia's democratic process on which The US is betting as a model for the whole region."