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US Secretary of State Colin Powell in Paris Thursday described France's backing of a UN resolution on Iraq as "a step in the right direction" but warned that tensions remain between the United States and France.
"I think it's a step in the right direction of moving forward together," Powell told a press conference in the French capital.
The United Nations Security Council voted on Thursday to overwhelmingly approve a resolution to end more than a dozen years of UN sanctions against Iraq.
Powell said the United States would not punish France for its anti-war stance during the Iraq war, but will review its policy toward France to improve ties between the two countries.
But it does not mean the disagreements of the past between the two allies are totally forgotten, Powell said. "We have to work our way through that."
"Some of our joint military activities are being looked at in light of the changed circumstances," he added.
Powell admitted that the Pentagon has acted to revise its relations with the French military, but he denied a turnaround in the US policy on France.
Powell, the first senior US official to visit France since the Iraq war, arrived in Paris on Thursday to join foreign ministers for the Group of Eight meeting scheduled for June 1-3 in the Alpine resort of Evian.
In the build-up to the US-led war in Iraq, France steadfastly opposed the use of military force against Baghdad.
(Xinhua News Agency May 23, 2003)
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