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02 May 2007

Egypt Conferences Support Iraqi National Reconciliation

Egypt hosts Iraq Neighbors Conference, signing of compact with Iraq

By David Shelby
USINFO Staff Writer

Washington – The entire Middle East has a great deal at stake in the future of Iraq, according to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and she urged Iraq’s neighbors to demonstrate their support for efforts to stabilize the security situation when they participate in the Iraq Neighbors’ Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, May 4.

“Iraq's neighbors have everything at stake here,” Rice told reporters while en route to Egypt May 1.  “Iraq is at the center of either a stable Middle East or an unstable Middle East, and we should therefore all align our policies in ways that contribute to stability.”

Rice acknowledged that neighboring nations likely have concerns regarding the speed of progress toward national reconciliation within Iraq, and said the conference would allow them to voice those concerns.  But she added it would be wrong to assume that the Iraqis are not already working hard to address the issue.  She pointed to the Baghdad security plan as evidence that the government is working to defend all Iraqis equally.

The secretary said the conference also allows Iraq’s neighbors to discuss ways they can support the national reconciliation process.  She said that to the degree the neighbors have influence with important political factions and figures inside Iraq, they can encourage those factions to set aside violence and engage in the reconciliation process.

On May 3, before the neighbors' conference, representatives from 60 nations and organizations will meet in Sharm el-Sheikh to ratify the International Compact for Iraq.  In the compact, Iraq lays out a five-year plan to achieve financial independence and economic self-sufficiency, and in return the international community pledges to support Iraq through additional assistance and debt relief.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt told the reporters en route to Egypt that the compact “ensures that Iraq's wealth is shared among all segments of the population, that the government commits to a series of steps it will take to ensure that it can not only run its operations, but provide essential services to reconstruction. … It could also, I think, help significantly on the political and security side.”

He said the compact is based on national unity rather than sectarian divides and seeks to strengthen central institutions while respecting regional institutions.

Kimmitt said that over the past few years the Iraqi government has used its obligations under agreements with the International Monetary Fund as a justification to move forward with difficult legislative and regulatory changes. The compact, he added, likewise could help speed movement on legislation related to reconciliation.  “I would think a successful launch of the compact, taking that compact back home with new pledges of assistance, debt relief and other forms of support, cannot but help accelerate the process,” he said.

A transcript of remarks by Rice and Kimmitt is available on the State Department Web site.

For more information on U.S. policies, see Iraq Update.

(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)