Clinton to visit Dublin, Belfast

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton is to visit both Dublin and Belfast this month.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton is to visit both Dublin and Belfast this month.

The former first lady will visit the cities to discuss bilateral and transatlantic affairs, the US State Department announced. She is expected to arrive next week.

Mrs Clinton will also visit London and Moscow as part of the trip.

In Belfast, she will emphasise US support for the peace process and back the region’s prosperity, US officials said.

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This week Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward announced that Mrs Clinton would be visiting the province’s capital with jobs and American investment on the agenda.

There were 42 million Irish-Americans who want to invest there and America “wants to put its money where their hearts truly rest”, he said.

Mrs Clinton recently criticised the UK over the freeing of the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi.

Before he was released to a hero’s welcome in Libya, she said any such move would be “absolutely wrong”.

PA