British Foreign Secretary William Hague was to host a private dinner to bid farewell to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today as she steps down from her post this week, officials said.
The dinner was to be held at the British embassy in Washington, and comes amid a whirlwind of events for Clinton’s last week as America’s top diplomat.
After four years on the job, she will say a final goodbye to the State Department on Friday, handing the baton to Senator John Kerry who is due to be confirmed by Senate later in the week.
Hague yesterday joined the chorus of praise for Clinton’s achievements as Secretary of State, in an opinion piece for the Huffington Post in which he set out plans to seek G8 action against rape as a weapon of war.
Britain will chair the Group of Eight richest nations this year, and Hague said he would make it a “personal priority to secure new international action against the use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war.”
“In the crowded field of Secretary Clinton’s achievements, her work on women’s rights is particularly inspirational. In this as in so many of the challenges of our time, Britain and the United States are natural allies,” he wrote.
Although Clinton would be absent from the G8 meetings, having left office, “her legacy will be part of the foundations we build on, and US support will be essential if we are to tackle this problem,” Hague wrote.
Hague said he would also be meeting with other top US officials during his trip to Washington, ahead of the G8 foreign ministers meeting in April in London.