LONDON, Aug 9: Britain is in favour of a new United Nations resolution endorsing the reconstruction of Iraq, Valerie Amos, British Secretary of State for International Development, indicated in an interview published on Saturday.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Amos suggested that the US was drawing up proposals for a new resolution, saying: “The Americans are doing exactly the same thing.”

Amos believes that the US, stung by the spiralling cost — in terms of both money and lives — of policing Iraq, is beginning to see the benefits of the UN, according to the Telegraph.

Another UN resolution, endorsing the next phase of reconstruction, “would be excellent,” Amos told the right-wing British paper.

“We’re currently looking at the possibilities for another resolution and what that might mean, which issues it would cover.”

A new resolution would make it possible for other countries, particularly Pakistan, India and Turkey, to contribute to a UN-backed multinational peacekeeping force, Amos suggested.

“There are some countries which would like to contribute to the peacekeeping effort but couldn’t do that if there weren’t another resolution,” she told the paper.

Top US Middle East diplomat William Burns on Thursday sidestepped the issue of a new resolution in a press conference during a visit to Russia.—AFP