"We would like to help the Iraqi government in staging the election. To us it's important that dialogue with the Opposition be established," Mr. Yakovenko said. It will be possible to restore stability to Iraq only if there is no political in-fighting, he added.
Russia was an initiator of the international conference on Iraq that took place in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh last week, Mr. Yakovenko noted. "The Sharm el-Sheikh conference gave fresh momentum to international efforts to assist the Iraqis," he said.
According to the diplomat, Russia would like to help Iraq overcome its instability. "Russia is willing to provide assistance for Iraq in getting out of the predicament caused by the lack of stability in that country," Mr. Yakovenko said. He also indicated that Moscow would be interested in developing political and economic contacts with Iraq.
"Iraq is a country with which we would like to continue developing political contacts and whose economic reconstruction we would like to actively promote," Mr. Yakovenko emphasized.
Related issues are expected to come under discussion during the Iraqi Prime Minister's visit to Moscow this next December, Mr. Yakovenko said. According to him, the program of this visit is now being finalized.
"Discussions at Sharm el-Sheikh brought [us] the awareness of the need to assist in the organization of elections in the Palestinian Authority and to promote the restart of contacts between Palestine and Israel. Russia will in every possible way be helping [with the efforts] to resume Israeli-Palestinian dialogue on the basis of the Roadmap for Peace," Mr. Yakovenko said. He said the Roadmap was the only document that could be used as a foundation for active work in the regionas, first of all, it had been approved by both conflicting sides and, secondly, it was legally binding.
