Today's Date:

A delegation of the interim Iraqi Governing Council will be received in Paris on December 15 and 16. Led by the current president of the Governing Council, Abdelaziz al-Hakim (president of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq), it will also include other Council members--Jalal Talabani (president of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan), Yonadam Youssef Kanna (president of the Assyrian Democratic Movement), Samir Shaker al-Soumaydi and Iraqi ministers: Hoshyar Zebari, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Mahdi al-Hafez, Minister for Planning.

The delegation will be received by Foreign Minister de Villepin. Meetings are also scheduled with the speakers of the Senate and National Assembly, and the chairman of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee. There’s also to be a meeting with French business leaders organized by MEDEF.

The visit reflects our desire to have regular dialogue with the Iraqi Governing Council. There have been numerous contacts in the past few months both in Baghdad and Paris. The minister has talked several times with Council members, with Mr. Talabani on July 15, Ms al-Hashemi on September 10 and Mr. Pachachi on September 13 in Geneva on the sidelines of the P5 meeting on Iraq which the UN secretary-general had called there.

The meetings with Mr. al-Hakim and his delegation will afford an opportunity for detailed exchanges on the situation in Iraq and the prospects for development in the country after the signing of the November 15 agreement on political transition.(...)