9/23/2010 Iraq, neighboring states to form cmte for assessing security cooperation
Manama, Interior ministers of states neighboring Iraq, at their seventh meeting held here on Wednesday, decided to form a joint commission of experts to revise the existing cooperation among these countries in shadow of regional and international developments.
They also decided to hold bi-annual and quarterly meetings at the level of liaison officers of Iraq and the neighboring countries to discuss, among other issues, means of contact and information exchange, according to the final statement of the meeting.
They re-affirmed Iraq's unity, sovereignty, independence, Arab and Islamic identity, non-intervention in its domestic affairs, support for its security and stability, as well as blessing its positive role at the Arab, regional and international levels.
In the final communique, the minister praised the constructive and positive cooperation and coordination between Iraq and the adjacent states "that has reflected positively on the security conditions in Iraq and the region." Kuwait's interior minister, along with his fellow executives of Iraq and the states around Iraq, renewed full support for the efforts of the Iraqi Government in combating all forms of terrorism, results of the democratic elections in March, distinguished role of the Iraqi government forces to ensure the polls' success, noting that the formation of a national unity government "is an internal issue to be resolved by the Iraqi political forces according to the interests of the Iraqi people, and its speedy formation is a national, regional and international demand."
They expressed satisfaction at the re-organization of the Iraqi regular forces, pullout of the American forces, handover of the security authorities to the local leadership, for sake of pressing ahead with the process of economic welfare for "the Iraqi people who have suffered a lot as a result of the terrorist crimes." They condemned terrorist and violent attacks targeting the Iraqi citizens, their properties, infrastructure and the institutions, noting at resolutions of previous meetings preventing usage of territories of the neighboring countries for harboring or aiding terrorists to stage attacks on targets in Iraq.
The statement underscored necessity of activating agreements and memoranda of security cooperation between Iraq and these states and called for further accords for restoring stability in the country. It also called for respecting border signs for respecting each state sovereignty and averting frictions among the border forces.
The meeting grouped the interior ministers of Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
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