Finalizing govt. formation decisive for Iraqis, German minister says

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Germany‘s Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Sunday that the rapid finalization of the new Iraqi government formation is a “decisive matter for the interest of the Iraqi people in order to achieve necessary reforms”. He expressed Germany‘s intention to render full support for the new Iraqi government. “The new Iraqi government is facing great challenges, including the necessity to continue pushing the goal of social and economic rehabilitation strongly forward,” Westerwelle said, adding that “time has come to achieve that goal in order to obtain necessary compromise and stability in the country”. He also said that “the political stalemate over the past few months had uncovered the difficulty of such course, but there is not other alternative but to follow it because it’s the only means for the Iraqi people to find a real chance to achieve a lasting peace and welfare. That is why, we shall continue rendering full support for the new Iraqi government through cooperation with our European partners”. The Iraqi parliament, after eight months of continuous arguments and discussions that followed the nationwide elections on March 7, elected on 11/11/2010 a candidate of al-Iraqiya bloc, Osama al-Nejeifi as parliament speaker, the leader in the Sadrisit Movement, Qusay al-Suheil as his first deputy, and Member of the Kurdistan Alliance Aref Tayfur as his second Deputy. The parliament also elected President Jalal Talabani for a second term in office. Talabani later assigned Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to form the new government. SKH (S)/AmR 1