Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said on Sunday that he hoped that the next round of talks with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan would lead to the lifting of the sanctions imposed on Iraq since 1990.
"We hope that this round of talks will lead to the complete lifting of the criminal sanctions imposed on our people for over 12 years," Sabri told the state-run Iraq TV before his departure for Vienna for talks with the U.N. chief due on July 3-4.
Iraq has been under stringent U.N. sanctions since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Iraq's unyielding stance has raised doubts that the new round of talks with the United Nations can again hit snags on the issue of arms inspections, as Annan has urged Baghdad to allow the U.N. arms inspectors back after they withdrew out of Iraq on the eve of joint U.S.-British military strikes in December 1998.
Iraq, however, has repeatedly demanded that the United Nations lift the sanctions and abolish the two air exclusion zones set up in northern and southern Iraq by the U.S.-led Western allies after the 1991 Gulf War with the aim of containing the Iraqi regime.
Annan, who has held two previous rounds of talks with Iraq in March and May, has expressed hope that this round of talks would be decisive and lead to the return of the arms inspectors.
The sanctions on Iraq will not be lifted until the arms inspectors certify that Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction.
(Xinhua News Agency July 1, 2002)
