| 2007: Saturday's meeting in New York to discuss the reconstruction of Iraq |
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September 23, 2007 Major countries, donor parties and Iraq's neighbors will meet at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Saturday, to discuss ways to rebuild the devastated country where acts of violence and political disputes have aborted so far the international efforts. This international forum, held at the ministerial level before the meetings of the General Assembly next week, will examine many of the Iraqi problems, such as internal politics, regional dialogue and helping the reconstruction. Organizers said the meeting is a continuation to a previous international conference on Iraq held earlier in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt in May. The meeting will be chaired by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Mun and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki; also, it is expected that 20 countries will join the forum on Saturday afternoon, including the five permanent members of the Security Council ( United States, Britain, France, China and Russia). Also, eight of the Iraqi neighboring states were invited to the Forum, namely Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Syria and Turkey in addition to the European Union, the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Conference. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund will be there as an observer. The meeting will first consider ways to implement the decision to grant greater role for the United Nations in Iraq, made by the UN Security Council on August 10 in its resolution No. 1770. Under this resolution, the United Nations representative in Iraq, who was recently appointed, Staffan de Mistura, and the United Nations Mission in Iraq must "if circumstances permit" provide "advice, support and assistance" to the Iraqi government in many political, electoral, constitutional, legal, economic and diplomatic areas. It is assumed that such assistance should extend to sectors such as humanitarian action, the promotion of human rights and the return of some 54 million refugees and their reintegration. The United Nations is also charged with helping the Iraqi government through "facilitating regional dialogue." Ban Ki Moon said that the United Nations would play the role of mediator to promote dialogue internally among the various Iraqi parties and externally with the neighboring States. Lynn Pasco, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations in charge of political affairs, said "the United Nations wants to do everything it can to help Iraq, depending on the security situation and depending on what the Iraqis themselves want to do." He added, "Even with a modest increase in the staff of the United Nations on the ground, we can do more for Iraq in the humanitarian field for example, but also in facilitating dialogue and reconciliation." He pointed out that "this is an urgent necessity for Iraq, and it is mastered by the United Nations elsewhere in the world." The meeting will seek to progress in the "International Covenant to Iraq." The officials in 50 countries endorsed in May in Sharm el-Sheikh this five-year plan, which was launched in July 2006 by Iraq and the United Nations with the support of the World Bank to strengthen security and promote economy in Iraq. It was scheduled for Ibrahim Ghambri, Special Adviser of Ban Ki Moon, to submit to the International Covenant to Iraq a report on the needs of Iraq in the humanitarian field, reconstruction, development and to determine whether the donors had fulfilled their pledges. |