May 29, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 23, 1429

STOCKHOLM, May 28: Iran has played a positive role in preparations for a conference on Iraq here this week at which it was hoped US and Iranian delegates could hold bilateral talks, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said on Wednesday on the eve of the meeting.

“In so far as they have been involved, yes, their role has been positive,” said Bildt of the Iranians.

Sweden is organising the first follow-up meeting, starting in Stockholm on Thursday, of the so-called International Compact with Iraq (ICI) drawing some 100 delegations.

“On the bilateral dialogue with Iran, (when) we’ve talked to Iranian diplomatic representatives, we find that the policies they present are constructive ones,” the minister said.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki were both set to attend the conference, but no meeting between the two is officially scheduled.

“I don’t expect Condi Rice and Mottaki to sit down and hug each other. I think it is very unlikely,” said Bildt.

But Washington and Tehran will each have large delegations present, and “they are interested in talking to each other, I know that,” he said.

“I think it is very important they talk to each other,” Bildt stressed, adding he would encourage them to do so during his bilateral talks with each side.

The Stockholm conference is aimed at assessing the progress being made in Iraq under the ICI, a five-year peace and economic development plan for the war-torn country adopted in May 2007 at an international conference at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

At that meeting more than 60 countries and organisations promised to cancel $30 billion of Iraqi debt.—AFP