Clinton, Trump vie for world leaders’ attention in New York

U.S. Democratic and Republican Presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, have sought to burnish their foreign-policy credentials late on Monday by meeting world leaders at the United Nations.

A report noted on Tuesday that for Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, it was a return to a role she knows well after she served as President Barack Obama’s secretary of state for four years.
It said that Trump, the Republican nominee, is a newcomer to the global stage who is hurriedly trying to play catch-up.

The report disclosed that in rapid succession, Clinton met briefly with Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and then Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

It, however, said that Trump also met Sisi minutes after the Egyptian leader spoke with Clinton in the same Manhattan hotel.

It said that the meetings came on a day that started with Clinton suggesting Trump’s harsh rhetoric toward Muslims aids the Islamic State militant group’s recruiting efforts.

“Trump pushed back, arguing the United States was less safe as a result of Obama and Clinton’s policies,” the report said.

The report said that Clinton and Trump both spoke with Sisi about working more closely with Egypt to combat the Islamic State threat.

It said that Trump’s campaign also released a statement saying that Trump “highlighted how Egypt and the U.S. share a common enemy and the importance of working together in defeating radical Islamic terrorism”.

It said that with Clinton, Sisi also discussed his goal of moving Egypt toward “a new civil society, a new modern country that upholds the rule of law and respects human rights and liberties”.

It said that during the meeting Clinton and Poroshenko addressed Russian incursions into Ukrainian territory.

It said that Clinton started the session by saying Ukraine faces “very real problems and threats from Russian aggression” and that she was “anxious to know how we can be supportive”.

The report added that the evening was not without drama, starting with Clinton’s motorcade zooming through packed New York streets at rush hour and then quickly rushing from hotel to hotel.

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