PARIS, May 9: The United Nations is very close to an accord on the modification of existing sanctions against Iraq, and that a decision on a significantly modified list of sanctions will be announced soon, French diplomatic sources say.

France has long fought against existing sanctions against Iraq, and newly-reelected President Jacques Chirac has never hidden his belief that existing sanctions are considerably unfair.

Indeed, his campaign spokesman Roselyne Bachelot is president of a French-Iraq friendship group within the French National Assembly, with a number of other close allies of Mr Chirac openly expressing their support for the resumption of a higher level of Franco-Iraqi relations.

“We have a quasi-definitive accord with regard to the contents of the sanctions list, what is referred to as a GRL - Goods Review List,” says the diplomatic source. “It’s a list that has been substantially modified, notably with regard to the system of civil sanctions presently in force against Iraq.”

The new dispositions, he says, “should dispense Iraq from having to obtain prior authorization before signing contracts that concern the obtaining of purely civilian goods.”