Iraqi foreign minister seeks support for reconstruction (13/07/04)

Iraq's new foreign minister this week prepared to address his EU colleagues in seeking support for reconstruction, two weeks after the US handed over sovereignty to an interim government in Baghdad.

"We expect the EU, as an organisation or as individual members, to come to our assistance," Hoshyar Zebari told BBC radio ahead of talks with EU foreign ministers. "We are going to request economic assistance and aid directly to the Iraqi people, not through intermediaries."

Hoshyar Zebari has asked the EU for support

Zebati was also due to visit NATO headquarters in Brussels to discuss the offer from the alliance to help train Iraq's armed forces, along with other possible assistance.

Ministers from the other 25 EU nations will consider proposals for helping to train the Iraqi police force, preparing for elections and advising the Iraqi government on establishing its administrative agencies.

Officials said that plans for dispatching EU personnel depended on improved security in Iraq. The EU has committed to spend $371 million in humanitarian and reconstruction aid for Iraq this year.

Meanwhile, Iraq is preparing to appoint 43 ambassadors abroad as it reopens diplomatic ties, Zebari said in an interview on Saturday.

He asked countries in the region to show "mutual respect" by not getting involved in Iraq's internal affairs and by clamping down on any cross-border flow of insurgents or aiding those in opposition to the new regime. All of Iraq's neighbours currently are interfering "in many ways" in its internal affairs, Zebari said.

"The new Iraq will be responsible and conscious and mindful of your national security needs," Zebari told neighbouring countries in the interview. "At the same time, we need you to respect Iraq's sovereignty and unity and internal affairs. This is to establish the rules of being good neighbours."

Source: BBC