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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived on Saturday evening shortly after 10:00pm at the international airport Eleftherios Venizelos in Athens. On Greek soil, she was greeted by U.S. Ambassador Daniel Bennett. 

The wife of the former President Bill Clinton visited Athens for the first time in her capacity as secretary of state. She had to participate in the OSCE summit in July 2009 in Corfu, but slipped and broke her hand and her visit was postponed. She was expected in the Greek capital also in February, but her visit was postponed again, this time because of the crisis in Egypt and other North African countries. 

The danger of the approaching bankruptcy of the Greek economy pressured the U.S. Secretary of State to make an emergency visit to Athens, which was organized literally a few days ago. Naturally the economic crisis will be a dominant topic in the talks of Mrs. Clinton, who will meet with Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos - a fact that does not fit the usual practices of American diplomacy. See the arrival of Hillary Clinton in Athens:

Today at 12:15pm Hillary Clinton will meet with Greek Foreign Minister Stavros Lambrinidis, at 13.15pm with Prime Minister George Papandreou, at 15.00pm with President Karolos Papoulias and at 15.55pm with Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos. On Monday morning she has a meeting with New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras and after that Mrs. Clinton will leave for India. 

Given that lobbying of the Greek political elite for the remission of debt and providing a second financial aid for the country is entering a decisive phase, which coincided with a difficult financial period for the government of Barack Obama, it is not surprising that the economic crisis will dominate the talks of Hillary Clinton in Athens. But this will not be the only topic. The dispute over the name of Macedonia, the settlement of the Cyprus issue, and the always problematic relations between Greece and Turkey, will be among the highlights of the U.S. Secretary of State in Athens. 

The Communist Party of Greece and the Coalition of Radical Left protested against the visit of Hillary Clinton and they depicted it as an imperialist. U.S. Secretary of State arrived in Athens from Turkey, where she participated in the meeting of the Contact Group on Libya. In Istanbul, Mrs. Clinton spoke with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.