Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, April 12, 2003
US to Hold Iraqi Opposition Meeting Next Week
The United States will convenemembers of the Iraqi opposition for a meeting in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on Tuesday, the State Department said Friday.
The United States will convenemembers of the Iraqi opposition for a meeting in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on Tuesday, the State Department said Friday.
"It's a meeting to bring together liberated Iraqis from newly freed areas of Iraq, members of the Iraqi opposition, including representatives from the Future of Iraq Project that we've been working on," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
"We expect this to be the first in a series of regional meetings that will provide a forum for Iraqis to discuss their vision of the future and their ideas regarding the Iraqi interim authority," he told reporters at a regular press briefing.
The spokesman said the United States hopes these meetings will culminate in a nationwide conference that can be held in Baghdad in order to form the Iraqi interim authority.
Zalmay Khalilzad, US special presidential envoy and leader of the US delegation to the conference, will travel to Nasiriyah thisweekend with Ryan Crocker, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State forNear Eastern Affairs, Boucher said.