Egypt to Host Conference on Iraq

[Rose Siding]

UNITED NATIONS -- Egypt will host a high-level conference in late November to promote political stability in Iraq and support the upcoming elections, Iraq's foreign minister said Tuesday.

The Nov. 22-24 conference will include Iraq's neighbors -- Turkey, Iran, Kuwait, Syria, and Jordan -- and Egypt, the eight major industrialized powers and China, the United Nations, the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Conference, and the European Union, Hoshyar Zebari said.
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On Monday, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said an international conference should consider the question of a U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq. He also said in the interview on France Inter radio that all Iraqi political forces, "including a certain number of groups or people who now have chosen the path of resistance by arms."

The Iraqi minister also stressed that the U.N. Security Council left the decision on the final status of foreign troops "absolutely to the discretion of the Iraqi government to determine."

For the time being, he said, "these forces are needed there."

"Of course, the more these countries can help us to build, to expand, the security capacity of the Iraqi military and police and security forces, this will speed up that process," Zebari said.

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