Obama, Clinton call up world leaders

Making an aggressive move on its foreign policy front, the new United States administration has reached out to key world leaders, with President Barack Obama himself calling heads of the states of Canada, Saudi Arabia and Britain, besides United Nations chief Ban Ki-Moon.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reached out to as many as 21 foreign leaders including Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai in South Asia.

This is part of the efforts of the Obama team to lose no time in reaching out to the world leaders and quickly put in place its 'Smart Power' diplomacy. More phone calls are likely to be made in coming days.

The White House said that Obama, among other issues on Friday, discussed with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper the challenges they face in Afghanistan and the issue of climate change. Obama's first overseas trip would be to Canada.

On his first day in his office, Obama had called leaders in the Middle East.

Obama sought the support of Saudi Arabia in finding a lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestine problem during his telephonic conversation with Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud.

In his telephonic call with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Obama discussed the situation in Gaza and Afghanistan and also on the need to work together on key global issues like the economic crisis, the White House said.

The US President reiterated his commitment for a strong US-UN relationship during his telephonic interaction with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

"He also voiced support for the UN's assistance mission in Iraq and his hope that the mission will expand this year and enjoy the continued leadership of the current Special Representative," the White House said.

At the State Department, spokesperson Robert A Wood told reporters that since taking over as Secretary of State, Clinton has made phone calls to a number of key world leaders in past two days.

"Most of them were basically introductory calls, and the Secretary expressed her desires to work with them closely on the various foreign policy issues that we all face," Wood said, refusing to comment on the substance of these phone calls.
Besides India, Pakistan and Afghanistan in South Asia, in Middle East Clinton called up top leaders of Israel including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defence Minister Ehud Barak.

Clinton also spoke to Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit; King Abdullah of Jordan; Palestinian Authority President Abdel Aziz Duwaik; Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal.

In Europe, Clinton called foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany and Czech Republic.

In Asia, Clinton made phone calls to the foreign ministers of Japan, South Korea, China and Australia. She also spoke with the Mexican foreign minister.

"These were, you know, brief introductory calls where the Secretary (of State) basically introduced herself in those instances where she needed to and spoke about how much she looks forward to working with them on some of the major foreign policy issues that confront all of us," Wood said.