US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to visit Athens on July 17-18, the Greek foreign ministry announced on Friday. The visit is taking place at the invitation of Greek Foreign Minister Stavros Lambrinidis.

According to an ANA-MPA dispatch from New York, meanwhile, the talks between Lambrinidis and Clinton are expected to include issues concerning Greek-US relations and problems in the wider region.

Clinton will be making a visit to Turkey first (on July 15-16). According to a statemnent by the State Department, she will be travelling to Turkey to paticipate in the meetings of the Libya Contact Group and will hold bilateral contacts with Turkish officials.

Then, according to the State Department's statement, Clinton will be in Greece on July 17-18, where she will be having meetings with President of the Hellenic Republic Karolos Papoulias, Prime Minister George Papandreou, Foreign Minister Stavros Lambrinidis and other political leaders to discuss "issues of mutual interest."

After her visit to Athens, Clinton will be going to India.