Speaking at a hearing before the US Senate's Committee on Foreign Relations where she sought confirmation of her candidacy, Rice explained how she saw US foreign policy in the next four-year term in office of President George W. Bush.
Asked by Senator George Voinovich about the situation in the Balkans, Rice said that the Balkans would remain an important US foreign policy issue.
Until the Balkans is peaceful, it will be difficult to think about Europe as truly whole and free, Rice said.
She said that progress had been made in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where SFOR had completed its mission and handed it over to the European Union, but that Kosovo and Serbia and Montenegro continued to pose a group of thorny problems.
With regard to Kosovo, she said that it was necessary to instill more energy into the UN mission in the province and continue making attempts to achieve the set standards and start considering the final status of the province. In this context, she underlined the importance of the treatment of minorities.
With regard to Serbia, Rice said that Serbs had to continue democratic processes and that the US would continue to insist on their cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.