The United States government is committed to reinforcing and building a better relationship with Qatar, a US official said yesterday. Jeffrey Feltman, US acting assistant secretary of state, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton specifically asked him “to make Qatar his first official visit.” Feltman said he expected he would be coming back here in the future “as one of the US’ envoys” to reinforce the relationship between the two countries. Jeffrey Feltman was received by H E Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani on Tuesday and the accompanying delegation. Cooperation between the two countries as well as issues of mutual concern were reviewed during the meeting. The meeting was attended by Director of the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister’s Office H E Abdullah bin Eid Al Sulaiti, Director of the European and American Affairs Department at the Foreign Ministry Ambassador Adel Ali Al Khal and US Ambassador to Qatar Joseph LeBaron. Feltman said the US applauded Qatar’s role in “bringing about the situation in Lebanon which permitted the Lebanese to elect their own representatives,” which will lead to electing their president. Lebanon recently held its parliamentary election which saw the March 14 Coalition winning majority of the seats. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local%5FNews&subsection=Qatar+News&month=June2009&file=Local_News2009061845821.xml

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