Biden to make 'major' US foreign-policy speech in Munich

Jan 29, 2009, 14:54 GMT

Munich - Vice President Joe Biden is to make a 'major' speech about the new US administration's defence and foreign policy at the end of next week in Munich, the organizer of a German conference said Thursday.

Wolfgang Ischinger said the address at the annual Munich security conference would set out the position of the administration of President Barack Obama.

This was why Biden was attending rather than the US Defence Secretary who usually represents Washington.

The meeting, which takes place with tight security because so many top officials are attending, is expected to discuss the future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and its mission in Afghanistan as well as European energy security.

The long-running dispute with Iran over its nuclear research will also be on the agenda and Ischinger said he expected 'a very senior person' from Iran to attend, but gave no names.

More than 300 senior officials from 50 nations are expected at the February 6-8 event at the downtown Bayerischer Hof hotel.

Among the 13 national leaders at the event will be French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Russia is to be represented by a deputy prime minister, Sergey Ivanov, said Ischinger, who is a former German ambassador to Washington and London.

The first session on the Saturday, on the future of European security, will feature addresses by Biden, Merkel and Sarkozy. The future of NATO and Afghanistan will be topics for the Sunday.

The annual conference has attracted an annual turnout of peace protesters who regard the meeting as militarist. Ischinger said he had invited the conference opponents to send a delegate but they had declined.

'I don't see why. Dialogue cannot be the wrong method for those who are friends of peace and opponents of war,' said Ischinger.