World community to unite for Iraq's reconstruction

Iraq may spur the World Community to unite, Russian Federation Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov is quoted as saying in Thursday's issue of The Times.

According to the head of the Russian diplomacy, resolution 1483 on Iraq's post-war settlement, adopted by the UN Security Council, "gave the green light to uproot disagreement among great powers in the world arena." The fact that the countries opposing the war in Iraq supported the resolution, made it possible to reach consensus on the problem of post-war adjustment, the minister pointed out. In this way all the countries assumed joint responsibility for the future of Iraq, Ivanov said.

"For the time being the definition of coalition has come to embrace not only those taking part in Iraq's reconstruction. A task to render aid to Iraqi people lies within the scope of the whole World Community," the Russian Foreign Minister underlined.

The Iraqi crisis partly outweighed the problems of international terrorism, proliferation of mass destruction weapons and organised crime, which are still urgent, the head of the Russian foreign office said.

Ivanov stressed the necessity of fighting international terrorism in the wake of the new series of terrorist acts, perpetrated in Saudi Arabia, Chechnya and Morocco, and clamping down on the impending threat of drugs, flowing out of Afghanistan.