Trimble and Durkan meet Senator Clinton

The leaders of Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government were today holding talks with New York senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and other US politicians on the second day of their visit to Washington.

First Minister David Trimble and Deputy First Minister Mark Durkan have lined up a joint meeting with the former First Lady as part of a series of briefings on the peace process with key senators and congressmen on Capitol Hill.

The meetings were taking place before the official opening of an office representing the Northern Ireland Executive in the US capital.

Senator Rodham Clinton, who visited Northern Ireland four times during her husband Bill Clinton’s presidency, was a keen follower of the peace process and the involvement of women in Northern Ireland politics when she was First Lady.

She was being briefed by both ministers on the work of the executive, including its efforts to tackle the root causes of sectarian disturbances in North Belfast and also the development of Northern Ireland’s new police service.

In his first visit to the US as leader of the nationalist SDLP, Mr Durkan and his deputy Brid Rodgers have also lined up talks with senators Edward Kennedy and Chris Dodd as well as the Friends of Ireland Group.

Mr Trimble was also meeting Congressman William Dellahunt who has been probing the links between the IRA and the Colombian rebel group FARC.

Mr Trimble and Mr Durkan will officially open a new bureau in the heart of Washington later today to promote the work and interest of their devolved government.

The Northern Ireland Bureau, situated two blocks away from the White House, is the first office to be opened by a devolved administration in the UK outside of the British Embassy.

Among those expected to attend the evening reception are President George W Bush’s special advisor on Northern Ireland, Richard Haass, former Stormont talks chairman Senator George Mitchell as well as Congressman Ben Gilman.

Mrs Rodgers, the Stormont agriculture minister, and Ulster Unionist Economy Minister Sir Reg Empey will also represent the executive and an assemblyman from the Revered Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists Edwin Poots is also due to attend.

Following a lengthy meeting last night with Mr Haass at the US State Department, Mr Trimble said the officer’s specific role will be to represent the Executive and Northern Ireland’s interest in the US.

‘‘We will judge it on the extent to which it succeeds in doing that and the extent to which it succeeds in interacting with those people in politics and business and wider society here who have dealings with Northern Ireland but who want to know more,’’ he said.

‘‘Everybody knows about the extent of investment and commercial contact between Northern Ireland and the United States. So for that reason alone, there is a need to have it.

‘‘They also know about the political interest and comment that is made, so having a point of reference in Washington that can provide information for those who are interested will obviously assist the debate here and the quality of comment that is made.’’

Mr Trimble and Mr Durkan also met President Bush’s National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice at the White House.