UN Secretary General Kofi Annan believes sanctions against Iraq may be lifted in the near future

The UN Secretary General Kofi Annan believes that sanctions against Iraq may be lifted in the near future, announced the UN information centre in Moscow. This is said in Kofi Annan's address to the 29th session of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference /OIC/, which is being held in Khartoum /Sudan/.

"Iraq and the Iraqi peoples' sufferings are the sphere of both the UN's and the OIC's concern," Annan pointed. This is the reason behind the Secretary General's meetings with the Iraqi government being held now. "I really hope that as a result of these negotiations which must be resumed in a few weeks, Iraq will reconsider its refusal to fulfil certain resolutions of the Security Council and agree to the presence of the UN Committee on control and inspection," Kofi Annan stressed.