UN OFFICIAL EMBARKS ON TRIP TO BOOST SUPPORT FOR INTERNATIONAL COMPACT WITH IRAQ

UN OFFICIAL EMBARKS ON TRIP TO BOOST SUPPORT FOR INTERNATIONAL COMPACT WITH IRAQ
New York, Apr 23 2007 4:00PM
A senior United Nations official has embarked on a week of travel to Europe and the Middle East in a bid to build support for the <"http://www.iraqcompact.org/">International Compact with Iraq, a five-year plan for peace as well as political, economic and social development in the war-torn country.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Advisor, Ibrahim Gambari, is in the United Kingdom today, and will travel from there to Kuwait, Bulgaria and Belgium before returning to New York next week, according to a UN spokesperson. He is accompanied by the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq.

The Compact will be launched formally early next month in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, culminating a preparatory process that began last July and was initiated by the Iraqi Government to establish a new partnership with the international community.

Mr. Ban announced earlier this month that he and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki would attend the launch on 3 May.

The preparatory process was co-chaired by Iraq and the UN, through Mr. Gambari, and has also had the support of the World Bank.
2007-04-23 00:00:00.000

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