|
The foreign ministers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will be briefed on the situation in Iraq and will not reach any decision on postwar Iraq at an upcoming meeting, a NATO source told reporters here on Thursday.
He said that the meeting, scheduled for Thursday afternoon, will provide a chance for NATO members to exchange views, for the first time after the United States-led war on Iraq began on March 20.
The source declined, however, to say whether the military alliance will discuss postwar reconstruction of Iraq after the meeting.
"The proposal for a NATO role in postwar Iraq has long been on the table. This time the United States is coming to discuss the plan. But Washington is not forcing the European alliances to have some role in the reconstruction work after the war," he said.
"They are coming here to seek common ground. Nobody has ruled out the role of the United Nations. The matter is what role it should play," he added.
The military bloc decided to convene an emergency meeting at ministerial level in response to US Secretary of State Colin Powell's visit to its headquarters. Reports here said Powell's visit is designed to mend the transatlantic fences as the Iraq war has left the military alliance widely divided.
Powell is also expected to meet foreign ministers of the European Union (EU) who will discuss possible EU role in postwar Iraq. The EU has held that the United Nations should play a central role in the reconstruction of Iraq.
(Xinhua News Agency April 3, 2003)
|
