Today's Date:

Official visit by M. Bernard Kouchner, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs - Communiqué issued by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs

At the invitation of Mr Jalal Talabani, President of Iraq, the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs has just begun an official visit to Baghdad. This is a project he had been thinking about since taking up office.

M. Bernard Kouchner is going to Iraq to convey a messsage of France's solidarity with the Iraqi people and to listen to the representatives of all the communities, without exception.

He arrives in Baghdad on 19 August 2007, the fourth anniversary of the terrorist attack which cost the lives of Sergio Vieira de Mello, special representative of the United Nations Secretary-General, and around 20 United Nations civil servants. Mr de Mello was a personal friend of M. Kouchner, as were Nadia Younès, Fiona Watson and Jean-Sélim Kanaan, members of his team in Kosovo.

On this occasion, he will also express France's gratitude to [French] embassy staff who are serving in Baghdad with courage and skill in the conditions you know about./.