It was kiss but don't tell on Rice's visit to U.N.

It was kiss but don't tell on Rice's visit to U.N.

Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press/United Nations

It was kiss but don't tell on Condoleezza Rice's first visit to the United Nations as U.S. secretary of state.

Rice and Secretary-General Kofi Annan said hello on Tuesday (Wednesday in Jakarta) by kissing on each cheek - a favorite UN greeting for diplomats - which the photographers loved.

"They seem to like to see us kiss," Annan joked as the cameras clicked away in his 38th floor office.

But Rice refused to say anything about her 35-minute meeting with Annan or her 40-minute meeting with General Assembly President Jean Ping, sweeping past microphones in the UN lobby and out the door into her limousine.

One shouted question that she ducked was whether U.S. President George W. Bush will appoint John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations when Congress recesses for the July 4th independence day holiday. His nomination has been blocked in the Senate, but Bush can give him a recess appointment until January 2007.

Before Rice came to UN headquarters, she did preview her agenda in an interview on Fox News' "Fox Friends", saying she planned to talk to Annan and Ping about UN reform.

Rice was asked whether Annan, who has been severely criticized by some members of Congress, is up to the job.

"Kofi Annan is a very fine man and ... as secretary general, he's done a lot of very good things, and we expect to keep working with him," she replied. "But this is not about the secretary general."

With the United Nations now 60 years old, Rice said it's time for reform.

"And I don't mean just who's going to end up on the Security Council. I know that's what everybody wants to talk about. But we need to go to the fundamental, old-fashioned issues - like how are we going to manage the place better, how is it going to be more effective," she said.

Annan has invited leaders of the 191 UN member states to a summit in September and urged them to adopt sweeping changes so the United Nations can deal with the global challenges of the 21st century. Annan set on a blueprint for change which Ping turned into a draft document that is currently being debated.

Rice made clear to Ping that the United States wants progress on its priority reform issues - a new Human Rights Council and Peacebuilding Commission, management reforms and a new convention against terrorism - before Security Council reform, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity.

Annan stressed the need for agreement on a broad reform package, the UN spokesman's office said in a statement.

Although their meeting was brief, Rice and Annan also did a quick tour of global hotspots from Lebanon and Haiti to Uzbekistan and Kosovo.

On Iraq, both sides agreed on the need to reach out to the Sunni community and the need for closer U.S.-UN consultations. On Sudan, they agreed on the need to support the African Union force in Darfur, including through North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and European Union military support, the UN statement said.