VIENNA, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- Austria "deeply" regrets the extraterritorial sanctions imposed by the United States against the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, said Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg at a press conference on Friday.
"It is no secret that obviously any friendship doesn't mean that you agree 100 percent on every topic," said Schallenberg at a joint press conference with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
"There are issues where we do not agree and we have different approaches. One, for instance, is the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project," said the minister.
"We deeply regret, obviously, the extraterritorial sanctions imposed by the United States and would rather endeavour on or pursue the way of bilateral talks to find a common solution on this ground, on this matter. But I believe it is a sign of our friendship that we can actually very openly talk about these issues and address them together," he said.
On the issue of 5G and cyber security, Schallenberg said: "We have adopted a common position within the European Union. It's called the EU toolbox... We are implementing this EU toolbox."
"Our approach is not to ban in general one competitor or one provider, but to establish a clear list of criteria to avoid high-risk providers," he added.
Pompeo arrived in Austria late Thursday on his third leg of a four-nation tour that has already taken him to the Czech Republic and Slovenia. He is scheduled to visit Poland on Saturday. Enditem
