International conference on Iraq opens
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-06-22 17:33

A major international conference on Iraq opened in Brussels, with over 80 ministers and officials including UN chief Kofi Annan discussing how to help rebuild the violence-wracked country.

Speaking at the opening of the conference US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Iraq's government to boost security and open its political system and economy, while seeking world support to rebuild after decades of devastation.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan (L) talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari (C) and European External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner (R) at the European Council headquarters at the start of an international conference in Brussels June 22, 2005. Washington and the European Union joined forces on Wednesday to rally international help for Iraq at a conference that will press Baghdad to ensure minority Sunnis play a full role in its future.[Reuters]

"We have agreed to work together to build a renewed international partnership with Iraq," Rice told the gathering. "The brave people of Iraq are asking us to stand with them -- and they deserve our full support."

But she added that "Iraq, in turn, has obligations of its own."

"To maximize the financial benefits of assistance, the new Iraqi government must continue to improve security, liberalize its economy and open political space for all members of Iraqi society who reject violence."

Rice urged all countries to deliver the material support they have pledged to Baghdad and said "Iraq's neighbors -- Syria, in particular -- must secure their borders from those who seek to destroy Iraq's progress."

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing (L) talks to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the start of an international conference in Brussels June 22, 2005. [Reuters]

At the same time Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, whose country currently holds the the EU's rotating presidency, called for a "truly central" role for the United Nations in Iraq.

"We call .. with all our wishes for a strengthening of the universal organization of the United Nations," Asselborn said.

"The legitimacy which this body embodies, its impartiality and its expertise, are all the more reason to justify a truly central role," he added.

The conference, co-sponsored by the United States and Europe, was expected to produce few concrete results but confirm trans-Atlantic cooperation on Iraq after the bitter rifts produced by the 2003 US-led invasion.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan (L) listens to European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana at the European Council headquarters at the start of an international conference in Brussels June 22, 2005.[Reuters]

US officials also did not try to hide their hope that it would provide a display of world backing for US policy in Iraq at a time when Americans at home are becoming increasingly sceptical of the operation.

An Iraqi delegation headed by Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari has traveled to Brussels to map out the way ahead with top diplomats from the United States, the European Union, Russia, Japan, Arab and other countries.

Iraq's transitional government has called for more help from the world community -- which was deeply split over the Iraq war but which is now united behind Baghdad -- in freeing the country from bloodshed and despair.

It is the first such conference attended by the interim government elected in Iraq's landmark democratic elections in January, an event which muted some of the opposition in Europe over the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

"The international consensus that has long eluded us on Iraq is now in place," said European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

However, the violence is greater than many anticipated, including Britain, a military ally of the United States in Iraq.

For Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, the international community must move quickly to stabilize and rebuild Iraq or risk seeing shockwaves sent through the Middle East and even further.

"That's why the stakes are high," Zebari said.

Zebari said technical and logistical help was needed in helping Iraq draft a constitution in August, hold a referendum in October and organize elections in December.

Debt relief has been billed as a key agenda item but there was no indication what sort of offers were in the pipeline beyond the 32 billion dollar package announced by the Paris Club of creditor nations in November.

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