By Xinhua,
Baghdad : France’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Bernard Kouchner on Sunday met top Iraqi leaders in Baghdad during his second and last day visit to the war-torn country.
After holding a working lunch with Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Kouchner told reporters that the security situation in Iraq was improving.
“I have the feeling that things are better as statistics show adrop in security incidents,” He said at a joint news conference with his Iraqi counterpart.
Kouchner said he was satisfied with the efforts exerted by the Iraqi government and security forces to take charge of their own country, noting that they were making progress.
Earlier, Kouchner held meetings with President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani and top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus.
About his meeting with Maliki, Kouchner said the meeting “went well” and that Maliki “proposed projects to France and we will see if our industrialists can give some answers.”
For his part, Zebari said “it is urgent for France to participate in the reconstruction process in Iraq.”
Kouchner then flew to Arbil, capital of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, to open a French consulate in the city before leaving the country.
Earlier, a statement from Talabani office said the visiting French foreign minister met Talabani on Saturday evening and that they discussed the recent achievements and military offensives carried out by the Iraqi security forces.
During the talks, Talabani spoke about newly launched security operations in Mosul, Basra and Baghdad’s Shiite Sadr City, the statement said.
Kouchner arrived in the Iraqi city of Nassiriyah in the southern Dhi Qar province on a previously unannounced visit on Saturday and was received by Iraq’s Shiite Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi.
It was the second visit for the top French official after his visit to Baghdad last August.