PM MALIKI REQUESTS UNSG BAN KI-MOON TO HOST

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 000629

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/20/2017
TAGS: ECON IZ OTRA PREL
SUBJECT: PM MALIKI REQUESTS UNSG BAN KI-MOON TO HOST
INTERNATIONAL COMPACT MEETING


Classified By: Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, Reasons 1.4 (b,d)

1) On the evening of February 20, the Ambassador received a
copy of Prime Minister Maliki's letter to the UN Secretary
General, requesting that the United Nations host an
International Compact Meeting. The Deputy Prime Minister's
office reports that the letter has been transmited to New
York via "normal diplomatic channels," but a copy was also
furnished to SRSG Ashraf Qazi yesterday evening. The text of
the letter is below.

2)
Republic of Iraq
Prime Minister's Office

His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon
United Nations Secretary-General,

We sincerely congratulate you on your becoming
Secretary-General of the United Nations, wishing you every

SIPDIS
success in leading the United Nations to a place of greater
strength and effectiveness to confront the challenges facing
human kind.

We would like to express to your Excellency that we are
looking forward to start a new stage in Iraq's relations with
the United Nations; the United Nations will contribute
through those relations to play a greater role in supporting
democracy and stability, confronting violence and terrorism,
and in the efforts of construction and building.

We would like to express to your Excellency our sincere
thanks and appreciation for your supportive stands on the
International Compact with Iraq at your first press
conference of December 11, 2007. The Iraqi Government
earnestly looks forward to continued progress towards the
International Compact with the participation of the United
Nations and the International community.

For the sake of achieving this goal, we consider it would be
useful to have the United Nations host a meeting that would
bring together the International community around the Compact
in New York, to complete the fruitful meetings that were held
before and were hosted by the United Nations in New York
during the months of September and November 2006, in addition
to the successful meetings that the preparatory committee had
in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait. In our view, the purpose of having
this meeting is to give Iraq and the United Nations an
opportunity to reaffirm their commitment to the International
Compact. The meeting will be an opportunity for Iraq to
present the latest developments and any recent progress
happening in the political and security areas to the
International community, in addition to recognizing the
economic reforms which are considered - as you know - the
substantive matter of the Compact.

Since this is considered an emergency meeting to present the
latest information, we hope many of the United Nations
countries will attend through their permanent
representatives, and we invite the countries that have in
fact supported this Compact in their capacity as members in
the preparatory committee, to send their senior people. We
are looking to hold this meeting at the end of the month of
February or the beginning of March 2007, and we would be
happy to discuss the convenient schedule for that.

Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Barham Salih, will continue to work
in this matter in his capacity as the one delegated by the
Government of Iraq to assume responsibility for this subject.
I have asked him to follow up the matter with the United
Nations since it is such an important priority.

Sincerely,

Nouri Kamel Al Maliki
Baghdad, February 20, 2007
KHALILZAD