Iraq neighbors’ interior ministers meeting starts in Amman

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The preparatory committee for meetings for the Iraq neighboring countries’ interior ministers started in the Jordanian capital on Monday. “The meeting coincides with tough circumstances Iraq and the whole region are going through,” the Jordanian news agency Petra quoted Jordanian Interior Minister Mekheimar Abu Jamous as saying during the inaugural speech. Abu Jamous hoped that the meeting would come up with “assertions on the part of Iraq’s Arab and regional neighbors to help it face up to challenges, particularly the security challenges”. He said this meeting would offer a good chance to exchange views on the best ways to strengthen cooperation and coordination among “our agencies concerned in order to combat terrorism, (border) infiltration and organized crime and to realize security and stability for Iraq as well as all neighboring countries”. The two-day preparatory committee meeting will precede the interior ministers’ conference, scheduled to be held on Thursday. Taking part in the meetings are Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Bahrain, Egypt, Turkey and Iran. The last Iraq neighbors’ interior ministers’ conference was held on October 23, 2007 in Kuwait, while the last Iraq neighbors’ cooperation & security coordination committee meeting was hosted in the Syrian capital Damascus on April 14. AmR (S) 1