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UN Secretary-General, Iraqi Leader Convene High-Level Talks on Future Steps

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki are set today to begin a high-level meeting at the world body's New York Headquarters in a bid to bolster international support for the country.

The meeting was convened to discuss the main challenges facing Iraq and how the UN and the international community can better assist the country's people and Government, according to officials close to the high-level talks involving Permanent Members of the Security Council, Iraq's neighbouring countries, members of the Group of Eight (G-8) industrialized nations and representatives of concerned regional and international organizations.

Participants will discuss carrying out Security Council resolution 1770, which was adopted last month and extended for one more year the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI).

At the time, the Secretary-General said the text paved the way for enhancing the UN's role in such key areas as national reconciliation, regional dialogue, humanitarian assistance and human rights.

Today's meeting will also focus on strengthening regional dialogue and cooperation as well as Iraq's massive humanitarian, reconstruction and development needs, and implementing the International Compact with Iraq, a five-year plan for peace and development.

Through UNAMI, established in 2003, the UN has worked to assist the Government and people of Iraq by promoting dialogue, assisting in the holding of two national elections and a referendum, supporting the drafting of the Iraqi constitution, contributing to the coordination of humanitarian assistance and promoting the protection of human rights.

UNAMI is led by the newly appointed Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, Staffan de Mistura, who succeeded in Ashraf Jehangir, now the senior UN envoy to Sudan. Mr. Jehangir's predecessor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, was among 22 UN staff members killed by a suicide bomb attack on UN headquarters in Baghdad on 19 August 2003.

This attack led to a re-location of UN international staff from Iraq. Staff began returning, under heightened security, in April 2004. Currently there are nearly 300 UN international staff and 393 national staff serving in Iraq, Kuwait and Jordan.

Source: United Nations