By NNN-KUNA,
Stockholm : US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has applauded in her address at the annual conference on the international covenant on Iraq the tremendous progress taking place recently in that country.
She highlighted Thursday the progress to the Iraqi government’s policies of improving security, reducing rates of inflation, curbing unemployment by at least half, and boosting the purchasing power of the Iraqi Dinar.
For these reasons and others, Rice expected the Iraqi economy to grow at a rate of 6.6 per cent this year.
She affirmed US support of the work of the Iraqi security and military to restore peace and stability in the country, in particular their recent operations in Basra, Baghdad, and Mosul.
After decades of dictatorship under the defunct regime of Saddam Hussein, Iraq has initiated positive steps toward closer ties with its neighbours and beyond, with regional and international states, noted Rice.
On the other hand, she appealed to these neighbours and other Arab states to support the political progress in Iraq by opening embassies and consulates there. Progress in Iraq, she stressed, would not occur without international support.
The document known as the international covenant on Iraq, signed in Sharm El-Sheikh in 2007, aspires for an Iraq that is secure and stable and economically buoyant and capable of merging into the world economy in five years.
Participating in the covenant meetings here this year are 82 countries, in addition to 12 regional and international organisations.