Iraq summit to assess development plans

STOCKHOLM - An upcoming summit on Iraq offers a chance to highlight and assess development plans, according to officials of the Swedish host country.
A year ago the International Compact for Iraq (ICI) was launy 29) near Stockholm is a follow-up to that effort.
Likely issues are efforts to promote reconciliation in Iraq and how the country's income from oil and gas can be distributed between various regions as part of national development plans.
A progress report on the ICI to be debated at the conference noted that civilians continued to be targeted by 'armed groups, militias and criminals.'
Military operations as well as detentions without trial were other issues mentioned under the human rights heading.
While the United Nations and Iraq asked Sweden to host the conference, it is Baghdad and the UN that 'own' the summit, Swedish officials said.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki along with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were due to attend, barring last minute scheduling changes.
Iran's Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki was also expected, a Swedish foreign ministry official told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, adding that in all some 80 delegations, including foreign ministers from Britain, France, Italy and Turkey, were also likely to attend.
Main Swedish representatives were Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and International Development Cooperation Minister Gunilla Carlsson.
Bildt and Carlsson recently said the conference is not a 'donor conference' but aimed at focusing on 'international support, reconciliation and state building' in Iraq.
The UN has become more important in Iraq, Carlsson said, mentioning its role to coordinate and supervise reconstruction efforts in Iraq.
Sweden did not contribute forces to Iraq during or after the US military campaign that in 2003 swept Saddam Hussein from power. But it has other ties with Iraq - for instance receiving some 140,000 Iraqis over the years.
Late Swedish prime minister Olof Palme, killed in 1986, and seasoned Swedish diplomat Jan Eliasson also served as mediators in UN-led peace efforts between Iran and Iraq during the 1980s conflict.
Some critical voices have been heard over Sweden's decision to host the conference.
Pierre Schori, a former aide to Palme who later held several cabinet posts and also served in the foreign ministry, said in an editorial piece in the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper that the UN should not be reduced to 'cleaning up' after the US invasion.
And he urged the Swedish government to revise its newly introduced tougher asylum rules for refugees fleeing from Iraq.