Egypt welcomed today an initiative spearheaded by Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani to bring representatives of Iraq's main political parties together to meet in Irbil, Iraq, to discuss ways to end the nearly eight-month Iraqi government formation crisis.
Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki welcomed Barzani's initiative and said Egypt is looking forward to its success "in laying the foundations for resolving the current crisis by integrating all factions of Iraqi society in a future government which will reflect Iraq's pluralism."
"Egypt has always been of the opinion that the Iraqi government crisis should be dealt with by the Iraqis themselves without any outside, negative interference," Zaki added. "Political leaders in Iraq should be encouraged to communicate with each other while demonstrating an adequate degree of flexibility, and they should transcend sectarian quotas to create a government accepted foremost by the Iraqi people, and accepted regionally and internationally as well."
According to Zaki, the initiative is an important step toward ending the political vacuum created in Iraq following the March parliamentary elections.
Barzani had called for a meeting of main Iraqi bloc leaders to discuss the creation of the new government but the meeting was marred by persistent disputes between rival political groups concerning the distribution of key government positions.
