Brussels, 12/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - In a press release of 11 March, European Union welcomes the initiative taken by the Iraqi government to hold a conference with Iraq's neighbour States and representatives of the international community, in Baghdad on 10 March. The EU, which was not invited to Baghdad, believes that the meeting constitutes a “necessary step on the path to improved regional cooperation”. “The international community, and in particular the States in the region, have a responsibility to support and promote the difficult process of national reconciliation and stabilisation in Iraq. There must be an end to the violence, terror and lawlessness in Iraq. The European Union reiterates its willingness to play an active part in this process”, reads the text published by the German Presidency. The European Union also expresses its wishes that the forthcoming follow-up conference, which is set to take place at ministerial level (in April?), “maps out this path clearly so that it leads to constructive dialogue between all the parties”. The German Presidency of the EU is prepared to play an “active part” in this process, the declaration states.
On Thursday evening, after the dinner of the Foreign Affairs Ministers of the EU at the European Council, the President-in-exercise, the German minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, told the press: “we are hoping for an invitation to be sent to the European Union” for the ministerial meeting. (hb)