MR. MCCORMACK: Good afternoon, everybody. No statements, get right into your questions. Who wants to start?

QUESTION: Well, I was just going to ask you how your day has been going, Sean. I don't have anything.

MR. MCCORMACK: Thanks for asking, Matt. It's actually going pretty well. I'm feeling pretty good.

QUESTION: Always (inaudible).

MR. MCCORMACK: Thank you, Lambros. I knew I could count on your support.

QUESTION: Actually, I have a question on Nigeria. Apparently, the Department of State's Office of Research Opinion Analysis has done a poll in Nigeria and they did this in late January and they -- this is ahead of the elections. And they've come to the conclusion that opposition candidate Mr. Buhari is going to win. I'm just rather surprised that you've done this poll, number one, and I just wanted to confirm really that the poll was genuine.

MR. MCCORMACK: I have nothing. I know nothing about the poll. I'm happy to look into it for you.

QUESTION: But no immediate comment?

MR. MCCORMACK: I have no knowledge of such a poll.

QUESTION: Okay, thank you.

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah.

QUESTION: Do you have any comment on the violence in the Republic -- in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which was a country going rather well until now?

MR. MCCORMACK: Right. Now, I understand -- I looked into this -- and I understand the following. And that is that there is a deadline for Vice President Bemba, who ran in the election for president and lost. There is a deadline for his security forces to disarm. And they're coming up on that deadline and I think that there was a conflict between the DROC army security forces and Vice President Bemba's forces. We're in touch with the government and the UN mission is also in touch with both sides to ease any tensions, deescalate them, and have the process move forward as scheduled. And the UN representative, Ambassador Swing, is also involved in the process.

QUESTION: Thank you.

QUESTION: Any news on the Iran resolution? You're still hopeful that it's going to go through and you'll get --

MR. MCCORMACK: Yes, I -- they're going to have a vote in the coming days. I can't tell you exactly when that vote is going to be. We're scheduled, I think, for another session at about 5:30 at the perm rep level up in New York to discuss any suggested amendments. As I said yesterday, we are of course open to changes to the resolution, any suggestions from the elected members of the Security Council. We do, however, want to preserve the core of the resolution. We think that's important. That is agreed among the P-5 members. It is appropriate to the time, the current -- the current steps that are outlined in the resolution. So while we are open to discussing some potential changes, those core precepts have to remain in the resolution, in our view.

QUESTION: Were the visas to the Iranian delegation actually delivered?

MR. MCCORMACK: No, not yet. They're still processing that second tranche of visas. The first tranche that involved a visa application from President Ahmadi-Nejad as well as his top-level advisors have been approved. They haven't been issued yet. The plan was just to issue both tranches at the same time. I reiterate we are going to meet our host country obligations. We are going to ensure that this is not an obstacle to President Ahmadi-Nejad speaking before the Security Council, should he choose to do so.

Yes.

QUESTION: Italy, please.

MR. MCCORMACK: Yes.

QUESTION: Monday, Secretary of State Rice and Foreign Minister met for dinner and they said they spoke briefly about the releasing of the journalist. And Mr. D'Alema said there was some kind of understanding from Mrs. Rice on the method of the thing. This doesn't seem to be the case anymore. What happened in two days? Also, you were saying here when asked, you weren't going to get into it, and now the New York Times quotes you as saying, you know, we don't like --

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, the -- we are of course pleased for the family that, you know, they have been reunited with their loved one. At the time, we were not aware of the circumstances of this deal that had been arranged between the Italian Government and the Afghan Government. Certainly at the time of the Secretary's meeting she was unaware, not aware of those arrangements. And I was unaware when I made the initial comments as well.

QUESTION: Well, are they going to speak to each other -- Mrs. Rice and Mr. D'Alema -- a phone call, meeting?

MR. MCCORMACK: I think we'll probably have something for you a little bit later on that.

QUESTION: Okay, thank you.

QUESTION: What is the fear that you have about the -- about this kind of an arrangement, the concerns that you have about this kind of an arrangement going forward?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, of course we've made our views known on this very clear. We don't negotiate with terrorists. We don't advise others to do so as well. The concern, I think, is obvious in that you have individuals who are potentially quite dangerous who have been released from prison.

QUESTION: And? I mean, I would like to have you say it. That's -- and? You're pleased they've been released from prison, but there are also other concerns, aren't there, that this would lead to an increase in -- and you know, it might encourage or at least give people reason to think that their demands will be met?

MR. MCCORMACK: Certainly there are other potential unintended consequences from such an action.

QUESTION: So, well, I'd rather not quote Matt Lee, but I mean --

MR. MCCORMACK: I've said what I'm going to say on the matter.

Yes, Lambros.

QUESTION: On Greece. Mr. McCormack, any readout from the today's meeting between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis here at the State Department?

MR. MCCORMACK: I already gave that. You missed it.

QUESTION: Where?

MR. MCCORMACK: Just joking. The Secretary met with Foreign Minister Bakoyannis. They had a good meeting. The whole tone and tenor of the meeting was one that certainly reaffirmed and underlined the solid foundation of U.S.-Greek relations. It was a very good, warm meeting. They have a very good rapport with one another. They covered a number of bilateral issues. They talked about the Visa Waiver Program. They talked also about issues related to the -- to Macedonia, talked about NATO --

QUESTION: FYROM.

MR. MCCORMACK: Right, I know you would have a different name for it. You would have a different name for it. We call it Macedonia. Also talked a little bit about Greek-Turkish relations. They talked a little bit about Kosovo.

QUESTION: To which extent the Greek-Turkish relation?

MR. MCCORMACK: The Foreign Minister just talked about over the past several months the tone and tenor of Greek-Turkish relations.

QUESTION: One more question. Mr. McCormack, your Embassy in Athens said the Greek Government before yesterday announced separate rewards of one million dollars each to any informant who fingers the terrorist responsible for the January 12th attack against your embassy in Greece --

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: -- using an Albanian rocket as it was reported extensively. Any comment on that?

MR. MCCORMACK: Nothing beyond what our Embassy has said on the matter.

Yes.

QUESTION: Sean, on Iran again. We know Qatar and Indonesia also some proposal for the resolution. Is it going to be discussed today during the meeting between Secretary Rice and Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister?

MR. MCCORMACK: I'm sure they'll touch on the Security Council resolution and Indonesia is an elected member of the Security Council. And President Bush has spoken with President Yudhoyono, and Secretary Rice has also had a conversation with the Foreign Minister. It won't be -- the discussion won't be limited to talking about the Security Council resolution, but I expect it will come up.

QUESTION: And how open are you to the Indonesian-Qatar proposal?

MR. MCCORMACK: Which one are you referring to?

QUESTION: Concerning the Iran resolution. You know, they are going a little broader with their ideas talking about an area of --

QUESTION: A nuclear --

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah, a nuclear-free Middle East. Of course, we are going to listen to the thoughts of the Indonesian Foreign Minister and whatever proposals that they have. We'll take a look at what it is they propose, any specific language. As I said before, we're looking at this process according to three different variables: the content of the resolution, the wording of it; the timeliness of getting a resolution passed; as well as the idea of consensus. Can you achieve a 15-0 vote? Certainly we'd like to maximize across all those variables. If there are changes that do not affect what are, in our view, the core principles of the Security Council resolution, of course, we're open to talking about those.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. MCCORMACK: Mr. Gollust.

QUESTION: Sean, could you give us an idea of what the Secretary intends to bring up with the Azerbaijani Foreign Minster? Would human rights be on the agenda for that meeting?

MR. MCCORMACK: I expect they will talk about that. The proximate cause of the visit here is the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding related to energy issues. It establishes a high-level energy dialogue, talking about ways to get Caspian energy resources to Europe via a number of different pipelines. There are several of them that are under consideration at the moment. I would expect that she also touches on other aspects of U.S.-Azerbaijan relations, including on human rights. That will be at the top of the Secretary's agenda.

(The briefing was concluded at 12:18 p.m.)