Rice cancels trip to Ghana to handle WAsia

WASHINGTON, July 16 (Reuters) US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has canceled a trip to Ghana this week so that she can stay in Washington for discussions on West Asia, the State Department said today.

Rice had been set to attend an African trade forum in the Ghanaian capital Accra on Wednesday and Thursday but she would now remain in Washington, said her spokesman Sean McCormack.

''She thought it was important to be in town here for discussion about a number of different issues, the West Asia, the broader Middle East and Iraq,'' McCormack told reporters.

He said Rice still planned to travel to Lisbon in Portugal for a meeting on Thursday of the quartet of West Asia peace brokers, including new special envoy and former British prime minister Tony Blair.

REUTERS SR KN2155