First Minister Alex Salmond yesterday met with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during his two day visit to Washington DC.

The meeting, a month into the new administration, was at the US Department of State and is the first between a Scottish First Minister and US Secretary of State.

Mr Salmond, who later delivered a lecture on Facing the Global Economic Challenge at Georgetown University, said: "This is an exciting time for the USA - as Hillary Clinton herself has said, it is a new era for America. Today's meeting will also mark, I hope, the start of a new period of deepening friendship and partnership between our two nations.

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"We had a productive discussion that touched on issues around the shared global challenge of climate change. In particular we spoke about the Saltire Prize, where Scotland is already working with US-based National Geographic, to lead global efforts to harness energy from the world's oceans.

The FM said the Secretary of State was impressed by the idea of a small country making a large contribution to a global issue and he welcomeed the huge prominence of green energy in the US recovery plan.

(GK/JM)