US Treasury Secretary Lew to meet key EU leaders

[April 08, 2013]  BRUSSELS (AP) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew is starting a series of meetings with key European Union leaders during his first official visit to the region.

Lew is expected to urge the European officials to promote more growth-friendly policies to counter the debt crisis that has for three years engulfed the 27-nation bloc, which together forms the world's largest economy.

Lew is starting his four-city tour in Brussels, where on Monday he is due to meet European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, the EU's top economic and monetary official, Commissioner Olli Rehn and EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy.

Later Monday, Lew is set to meet European Central Bank President Mario Draghi in Frankfurt, before meeting German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and France's Pierre Moscovici in Berlin and Paris on Tuesday.

[Associated Press]

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