Colin Powell and Kofi Annan Discuss UN Role in Postwar Iraq Settlement

U.S. State Secretary Colin Powell had a one-hour meeting Wednesday with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to discuss the role of the international community in the postwar settlement in Iraq.

The discussion was centered, apart from the situation in Iraq and the UN role in postwar settlement, also on Middle East settlement and other issues, Fred Eckhard, press secretary of the UN Secretary General, said.

Last week Kofi Annan conducted a meeting with all the Security Council members to formulate a common approach of the Security Council to defining priority tasks facing the UN in connection with the situation around Iraq.

According to Eckhard, a common stand of the Security Council members can be expressed in a resolution providing a good and firm basis for actions by the international community in Iraq following the stabilization period, which is currently being supervised by the coalition.

He said that Kofi Annan sees the main goal in uniting the Security Council around the resolution that would correspond to the UN principles and Charter.