ROME, Feb. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday that Washington is "coordinating" with Rome to obtain the release of an Italian journalist kidnapped in Iraq.

    At a press conference after her meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini, Rice referred to the kidnapping of Giuliana Sgrena in Baghdad on Friday,

    Sgrena, a journalist working for Italy's I1 Manifesto newspaper, was interviewing people near Baghdad University with her Iraqi colleague, when unknown gunmen kidnapped her from her car.     

    Rice said Italy is a "faithful member of the coalition" against terror and the bilateral relationship between Italy and the US goes "beyond collaboration between governments."

    Responding to a question on US plans for the future of Iraq, Rice denied that the US administration had ever mentioned an "exitstrategy." What the US wants is a "strategy for success" in Iraq, she said.

    As for the Mideast issue, Italy and the US agreed to explore the present opportunity to advance the Mideast peace process.

    Although there is still a "long road ahead," both Israelis and Palestinians have "understood that it is time to move forward," she said.

    Fini said they also discussed the possibility of another international conference on Mideast peace, similar to that now underway in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

    Rice's planned meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was canceled because he has the flu.

    Rice is on a Feb. 3-10 tour of Europe and the Middle East, her first foreign trip as the top US diplomat. Enditem