August 26, 2003	Tuesday	Jumadi-us-Sani 27, 1424

AMMAN, Aug 25: Jordan on Monday pledged to work with the US-backed Iraqi interim Governing Council to set up a representative national government in Baghdad, but rejected its request for formal recognition.

Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher spelled out Jordan’s position following talks in Amman between Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb and a visiting delegation representing the 25-member body, which was appointed in July.

“The meeting with the prime minister was very positive and we declared Jordan’s readiness to cooperate positively with all the political forces in Iraq and with the council,” Moasher told reporters after the meeting.

But when asked if Jordan recognises the council Moasher said: “At the time being we are not speaking of recognition.”

“We want to deal in a positive manner with the council which is the first step on the way to a permanent government. We want the council to succeed and we hope it will lead to an Iraqi government which represents the Iraqi people,” he said.

Moasher said Jordan was ready “to provide the Iraqi people with every possible assistance, leading to a permanenent government” and that discussions centered on cooperation in the fields of politics, economy and trade.

The delegation, led by the council rotating chairman Ibrahim Jafari, arrived in Jordan earlier Monday from Egypt as part of a regional tour to press reluctant Arab countries to formally recognise the 25-member body.

During their visit to Egypt the delegation, composed of Jafari, Adnan Pachachi, Ghazi al-Yawar and Barak Abu Sultan, requested representation at the next Arab League foreign ministers’ meeting set to take place in Cairo on September 9-10.

Moasher said the request had also been discussed in Amman and he promised that Jordan will make the necessary contacts with other Arab countries to allow the council to be represented at the meeting.

“We are now examining the mechanism and we are making contacts so that Iraq will be represented at the September meeting” of the Arab League, Moasher said at a joint news conference with Jafari.

The Iraqi council chairman said the visit to Jordan and the tour in general was to introduce the council to Arab leaders and inform them of its work.

“It is important for us to harmonise the council’s internal positions (in Iraq) with its action on the Arab scene,” Jafari said.

Later he told reporters that the council “is the best formula for concensus in the present conditions in Iraq”.

Jafari also said that Jordan had pledged “to help us have better relations with the other Arab countries”.

After talks in Cairo on Sunday, Jafari told reporters that Arab countries had granted the transitional body “clear recognition” by agreeing to hold meet with his four-member delegation.

But Egypt and the Arab League disagreed with Jafari and Maher, echoing Amman’s position, saying “recognition is not the issue”

Jordan is the seventh leg of an Arab tour that has already taken the delegation to the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

The delegation had planned on visiting Yemen on Monday but Jafari said the trip would take place on a second tour or Arab countries.—AFP