French foreign minister to visit Arab Gulf states

French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine will start today a tour of three Arab Gulf states, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait, in order to explain French ideas concerning finding a diplomatic solution to the Iraqi crisis.

Vedrine's tour coincides with a similar tour carried out by US Secretary of Defense William Cohen to discuss the US strategy which contradicts the French strategy.

The three Arab states the French Minister will visit are linked to defense agreements with France, while American troops are deployed strongly in the region. The French Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Vedrine will explain the French ideas to eliminate the "current bottleneck" in Iraq.