Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, April 11, 2003
Russian FM, European Commissioner Discuss Iraq Resettlement
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and European Commissioner for External Relations Chris Patten on Thursday called on UN to "develop common rules to regulate the roles different countries are to play" in the post-war reconstruction of Iraq.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and European Commissioner for External Relations Chris Patten on Thursday called on UN to "develop common rules to regulate the roles different countries are to play" in the post-war reconstruction of Iraq.
During a telephone conversation Thursday, the two officials "unanimously spoke in favor of the UN taking the lead in the post-war settlement in Iraq", Interfax reported.
The UN should work out common guidelines to coordinate participation of different countries in the process, according to a Russian Foreign Ministry report.
The telephone conversation also covered the implementation of last year's Russia-EU summit agreements on travel between the Kaliningrad region and the rest of Russia.
"Ivanov underscored the need to resolve all remaining outstanding issues", the Foreign Ministry said, and "urged Brussels to act in strict compliance with these agreements".
Patten promised that the European Commission would do everything in its power to take account of Russia's arguments concerning legal documents on transit to the Kaliningrad region.
The documents, which are expected to take effect on July 1, deal with the issuance of entry-visas and special train tickets, according to Interfax.
The Foreign Ministry also said recent Russia-EU-Lithuania consultations in Brussels "produced a number of mutually acceptable solutions to most of the problems in the agenda."
Ivanov and his German counterpart Joschka Fischer on Thursday also discussed by phone the "prospects to get the Iraqi settlementback to the UN Security Council," Itar-tass said.