France and China share view on UN Iraq resolution

MOSCOW, Russia and China agree that a new UN Security Council resolution on Iraq should specify when the country regains its sovereignty and give the United Nations a major role to play, the Russian foreign ministry said Saturday.

Russia and China “both feel that the draft (resolution) must include a precise plan for restoring the sovereignty of Iraq and give the United Nations a central role in resolving the situation” there, the ministry said in a statement after a telephone conversation between foreign ministers Igor Ivanov and Li Zhaoxing.

Russia along with Germany and France are pressing the United States to develop a clear timeline in a new UN resolution indicating when the Iraqi people will regain complete sovereignty and who would oversee its financial reconstruction.

France is eager to “turn this bitter page” in the dispute over Iraq, says Paris’ ambassador in Washington, but significant differences remain with the United States over Iraq’s future. —Agencies

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