US offers new foreign policy tone

US Vice-President Joe Biden has outlined the Obama administration's foreign policy direction, promising a new American tone in the world.
Mr Biden, addressing a security forum in Munich, said the US would consult more with European allies in return for greater willingness in burden sharing.
He spoke of a new relationship with Russia and said the US would continue to develop a missile defence shield.
He also said no strategy in Afghanistan could succeed without Pakistan.
His wide-ranging speech also covered climate change and the global economic crisis.
"I come to Europe on behalf of a new administration determined to set a new tone in Washington, and in America's relations around the world," Mr Biden told other world leaders and diplomats.
"We will engage. We will listen. We will consult. America needs the world, just as I believe the world needs America," he said.
On Iran, Mr Biden said: "We will continue to develop missile defences to counter a growing Iranian capability, provided the technology is proven to work and cost effective."
Russian 're-set'
He added: "We will do so in consultation with our Nato allies and Russia."
The old carrot and stick policy must be discarded
Ali LarijaniIranian delegateHe reiterated President Barack Obama's pledge to communicate with Iran, saying the US offered a clear choice: "Continue down your current course and there will be pressure and isolation; abandon your illicit nuclear programme and support for terrorism and there will be meaningful incentives."
Mr Biden also said it was "time to press the re-set button" on American-Russian relations.
He is due to meet Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, amid cool relations between the two nations.
Promising to consult with nations on a range of other issues, Mr Biden also said that the US would "ask for more from our partners", for example in taking former inmates from Guantanamo Bay when the US military prison is closed in a year.
Also at the forum, Nato's chief criticised European countries for not heeding the US call for more troops in Afghanistan.
Secretary-general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said European countries should "share the heavy lifting," Associated Press news agency reported.
'Poltical balance'
"I'm frankly concerned when I hear the United States is planning a major commitment for Afghanistan but other allies are already ruling out doing more," he said, without specifying which allies.

The French and German leaders both attended the forum
"That is not good for the political balance ... and it also makes the calls for Europe's' voice to be heard in Washington perhaps a bit more hollow than they should be."
His comments come as the BBC learns that the Italian government has decided to increase its contribution to Nato forces in Afghanistan by 800 to 2,800 troops this year.
Iranian delegate Ali Larijani earlier welcomed the new US government, saying it was a "golden opportunity" to improve ties.
But Mr Larijani, who is Iran's parliamentary speaker, warned it would take more than a change of tone and a few interviews from President Obama's government to mend the fractured relationship between Tehran and Washington.
"The old carrot and stick policy must be discarded," he said, referring to Western threats and offers of rewards to coax Iran to give up nuclear activities.
He said the US needed to change its tactics "to a chess game from a boxing match".
The BBC's defence correspondent, Rob Watson, at the conference, says Mr Larijani's comments are a sign that any efforts at reconciliation with Iran will be difficult and complex.
War backing
The meeting between Mr Biden and Mr Ivanov is also expected to be a challenging one.
Analysts have portrayed Kyrgyzstan's decision this week to close the last remaining US air base in Central Asia as being the work of the Kremlin.
And speaking before the conference, Mr Ivanov focused his attention on the controversial plans drawn up by the Bush administration for a missile defence shield in Central Europe.
"President Medvedev from the very start said very clearly and unequivocally that if there are no interceptors in Poland and the Czech Republic... there will be no [Russian Iskander missiles] in Kaliningrad," he said.
Among other leaders at the Munich conference, Mr Biden met German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and is due to meet Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
On Sunday, he will see President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia, who received US backing in its brief conflict with Russia last year.
Speaking at the conference, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Europe should restore its relationship with Russia.
"I don't think the Russia of today is a military threat to Nato or the European Union," Mr Sarkozy said. "We must restore confidence."