President of Iceland Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson praised US presidential hopeful, former Republican vice-president candidate and governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, in a recent interview with the Alaska Dispatch. He is currently on a visit to the state.

President of Iceland Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson. Photo by Páll Stefánsson.

Grímsson was the only foreign leader Palin had met before running for vice-president alongside Republican presidential nominee John McCain in 2008.

“At the time [we met], she was a new governor and not talked about on the national level," Grímsson told the Alaska Dispatch. "We talked constructively about the geothermal potential of Alaska and about many of the same issues that I discussed with Gov. Hickel.”

“I sensed in her a fundamental political capability, a political nature that you either have or you don't. It's like a musical quality. Whether people are for or against [her] that she has taken herself from an elected official in Alaska to become one of the most influential forces in politics in a matter of years demonstrates her ability," Grímsson described of Palin’s character.