Foreign Ministry: Russia to participate in meeting regarding reconstruction of Iraq

In the near future an unofficial 'technical consultation meeting on the reconstruction of Iraq' will be held in New York, said the Foreign Ministry's Director for Information and Press Alexander Yakovenko on June 21. He said that the meeting 'is an intermediate step toward a possible international conference regarding the reconstruction of Iraq.' He also said that the UN, IMF, World Bank and also representatives of interested governments including Russia will take part in the forum.

Official representatives of the Russian foreign policy department said that they could not yet say who exactly would be representing Russia at the forum in New York. Answering a journalist's question about the possibility of the return of Russian companies on the Iraqi market, Yakovenko said 'that is a definite possibility.' 'We believe that Russia's participation in the reconstruction of Iraq is very important for our country. UN resolution 1483 is aimed directly at that. In this context we are conducting work with Russian companies so that they participate in the rebuilding of economic relations with Iraq and also participate in the reconstruction of Iraq's economy. I believe that we will continue to maintain this position in the area of economics,' said Yakovenko.