UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday asked the Security Council to extend the mandate of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, which expires on August 12, for one year.

The secretary-general noted in a letter to the council president that the United Nations will provide strong support in developing an International Compact for Iraq, which he described as a new partnership between Iraq and the international community.

The compact, formally launched last week by the UN and the Iraqi government, says that Iraq would pledge to undertake a number of economic reforms and estimates would be developed of how much financial support Iraq would

need through 2012 to rebuild its economy.

The compact was set up in June at the request of Iraq's new prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.

The UN chief added that the UN Mission in Iraq, with a total of 396 international civilian and military personnel, has further grown in size and expanded its activities beyond Baghdad, as far as the security situation permits.

Source: Xinhua