International meeting on Iraq's security ends with final statement

An international ministerial meeting on Iraq's security, which gathered Iraq's neighboring nations and the world's major powers, ended on Friday afternoon with a final statement.

The statement, released after the about five-hour meeting, said participating nations and organizations supported the establishment of the working groups headed by the Iraqi government in the fields of energy and electricity, security and protection of both sides of common sides and assistance to Iraqi refugees.

The 19-point document said it was important to bring to justice members of the previous Iraqi regime who committed war crimes against Kuwait and Iran, and crimes against humanity against the Iraqis.

It said that participants stressed the Iraqis' right to determine their political system and control their natural and financial resources.

According to the statement, the meeting condemned all acts of terrorism in all forms in Iraq, notably against civilians, infrastructure and government institutions.

The statement said all states should combat terrorist activities and prevent the use by terrorists of their territory for terror attacks.

The statement stressed the need to strengthen the UN's central role in coordinating international assistance and in supporting Iraq's political process and national reconciliation.

Participants agreed that they will continue to contribute " multilateral initiatives" regarding the Iraqi issue, such as the Sharm el-Sheikh conference.

It also said next ministerial meeting on Iraq will be held in Turkey's Istanbul, yet it didn't give a specific time.

The one-day meeting, also called enlarged meeting of the Iraq's neighboring countries, was attended by senior diplomats from Iraq's six neighbors -- Iran, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait -- plus Bahrain, Egypt and the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Conference, the UN as well as the EU.

Also attending were senior diplomats from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the United States, Britain, Russia, China and France -- and members of the G-8, including Germany, Canada, Japan and Italy.

The meeting on security follows Thursday's meeting of the International Compact with Iraq, an initiative created to support Iraq's reconstruction efforts.

It is the second time for Sharm el-Sheikh to host such an international conference on Iraq.

In November of 2004, the resort held a similar ministerial meeting on Iraq's security, which gathered senior diplomats from about 20 nations and regional and international organizations.

Source: Xinhua