Foreign ministers of the host country Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, Jordan and Kuwait, all bordering Iraq, plus Egypt and Bahrain, the current Arab League chairman, attended the first regional forum on post-war Iraq which opened on Friday afternoon. A joint statement, issued after the conference, said Iraq's neighbours did not intend or accept any interference in Iraq's internal affairs, thus guaranteeing the new Iraqi government will be established according to the will of the Iraqi people.

The foreign ministers also underlined "the obligations of the occupation powers under the fourth Geneva Convention to maintain security and stability... withdraw from Iraq and allow the Iraqis to exercise their right to self-determination."

The foreign ministers hoped for "an early establishment of a broad-based and fully representative government in Iraq, in accordance with a constitution to be agreed upon and ratified by the people of Iraq, an Iraq living in peace with its neighbours."

They also disagreed with US allegations against Syria and supported Damascus' initiative, to go before the UN Security Council, to free the Middle East from weapons of mass destruction.

The emergency meeting was called by Saudi Arabia after the kingdom's Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal made a surprise visit to Damascus last Monday for talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, Syria, Iran and Egypt held a similar regional conference on January 23 in Istanbul, Turkey, in a bid to prevent the US-led war on Iraq.

Despite decades of mutual mistrust, the eight countries, considering the current political vacuum in Iraq and its impact on its neighbours, finally chose to meet to seek a common stance.

Except Syria and Iran, the other six countries are on good terms with the United States, and some are traditional allies of Washington. Therefore, although they share disputes with Washington over the Iraq war, the wording of the joint statement was quite "moderate" and did not present a timetable for the withdrawal of US and British coalition forces from Iraq.

Each of Iraq's neighbours has its own concerns now that the conflict is over. Syria and Iran fear they could become Washington's next target, while Turkey, with its own Kurdish minority, is worried about the growth of Kurdish power in northern Iraq.

The major oil-producers of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are concerned that Iraqi oil could flood the world market, forcing prices down and damaging their economies.

Analysts said the region is likely to remain volatile for some time, with US-British troops occupying Iraq and the US alleging that Syria possesses weapons of mass destruction and is sheltering Saddam Hussein's senior officials. And the meeting of nations bordering Iraq indicates that they are also concerned about regional stability.

(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2003)