The U.S. government has said it is looking for "appropriate" ways to assist the inclusive Government in Zimbabwe, the daily newspaper The Herald reported on Friday.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said this to visiting Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday.

Clinton was speaking a day after the U.S. Senate passed a resolution to maintain the economic sanctions regime on Zimbabwe, citing alleged reluctance by Zanu-PF to fulfill provisions of the Global Political Agreement, and arrest of journalists.

The U.S. Senate resolution came ahead of Prime Minister Tsvangirai's scheduled meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, set for Friday, where he is expected to press for the lifting of the sanctions and restoration of Zimbabwe's lines of credit.

"He (Tsvangirai) is now in a unified government that is attempting to move Zimbabwe forward into a better future," Clinton,who met Tsvangirai at the State Department in Washington said as she stood before the cameras with him.

"And I'm anxious to hear about the plans and the work that your government is undertaking, and to look for ways that we appropriately can be supportive," Clinton said.

Tsvangirai is expected to meet Obama at the White House to press for the lifting of sanctions and restoration of the country's lines of credit.

On Wednesday, Tsvangirai told the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington that Western donors should judge the inclusive Government by what it had achieved and not dwell on the past.

"When you judge this government it must be based on what this(inclusive) Government has done and not on the past," Tsvangirai said.

Tsvangirai's comments followed a statement by the United States on Tuesday that although President Obama was looking forward to meeting him on Friday, Washington did not intend to lift the economic sanctions it has imposed on Zimbabwe through the so-called Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act.

Tsvangirai maintained that since he joined the government in February, "there is no one in detention."

He said he understood frustration on the speed of political reform as he works to mend fences with former allies.

The inclusive government has embarked on a number of reforms, which will see the selection by Parliament of commissioners to sit on the electoral, media, human rights and anti-corruption commissions, he said.

Work on crafting a new constitution is already underway, with Parliament also leading the process, he said.

Source: Xinhua