By NNN-KUNA
Baghdad : Baghdad hosts Sunday an extended meeting of Iraq’s neighbors, alongside representatives of the permanent members of the UN Security Council and the G-8, aimed at evaluating security, pushing forth national conciliation, and tackling issues of refugees and reconstruction.
This is the second meeting of experts in the Iraqi capital, coming six months after the first meeting that brought together the US and Iran. Participants agreed to cut off financing to militants and cross-border smuggling of weapons, as well as exerting efforts to solve the issue of refugees in neighboring states and for reconstruction.
Iraqi premier’s political advisor Sadeq Al-Rakbi told KUNA that Nouri Al-Maliki would be focusing in his opening speech on the progress made by his government in security and national conciliation.
Meanwhile, MP Hasan Al-Sunaid, who is close to the premier, said Al-Maliki would use this conference “to evaluate the progress his country has made and how much an impact it made on regional security.”
As for Foreign Undersecretary Lubaid Abbawi, he explained the 22 participating delegations would be divided into three groups with each focusing on one of these issues: security, refugees, and energy.
A Foreign Ministry source told KUNA that the ambassadors of the US, UK, Turkey and China in Baghdad would be taking part in the meeting.
The Kuwaiti delegation will be led by head of the Foreign Ministry’s international organizations’ department Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi, the source said.
Participants are to look into findings of preparatory committees formed in the first meeting, and review results of meetings of the energy, security and refugee committees that were formed by the Sharm El-Sheikh conference.
They will also be preparing for a meeting of foreign ministers in Istanbul, slated for October, said Iraq’s Foreign Undersecretary and head of his country’s delegation to the meeting Mohammad Al-Hajj Humoud.
Speaking to KUNA, he said, “We have completed preparations for today’s experts’ meeting in which military personnel and politicians will be taking part,” adding that this meeting could be considered the second round of the first meeting that was held in Baghdad in March.
The experts will form “a permanent secretariat that will hold regular meetings to follow up developments in Iraq,” he added.