Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said here on Friday morning that the most important task in addressing the Iraqi issue is to maintain unity, and then stability and development.

"Unity, stability and development are three major tasks we face in addressing the Iraqi issue and unity is the most important one, " said Yang in a speech at an international ministerial meeting on Iraq's security, which was opened earlier in the day.

"The ethnic and religious groups in Iraq should enhance dialogue and promote reconciliation to ensure equal participation by all the Iraqis," said Yang.

Yang said it is important to give top priority to political settlement and pursue an integrated approach to achieve stability in Iraq.

Yang also said unity, stability and development of Iraq couldn' t be achieved without the support and involvement of Iraq's neighboring countries and the international community.

"Enhanced coordination and cooperation among Iraq's neighbors will help move the Iraqi issue towards solution. The reasonable concerns of these countries should be also addressed," he said.

He called on the international community to honor its commitment to Iraq's reconstruction and give full play to the importance of the UN.

Yang said it was necessary to resolve the differences among Iraqi groups through political process in a peaceful and democratic way.

Yang said China has over the past four years worked to promote exchanges with Iraq and fulfilled its commitment to Iraq's reconstruction.

China has helped train Iraqi technical personnel and provide material supply and equipment to Iraq, and China was also ready to reduce and forgive by a large margin debts owed by Iraq, he said.

Friday's meeting on Iraq's security follows Thursday's meeting of the International Compact with Iraq, an initiative created and launched to support Iraq's reconstruction efforts.

It is the second time for Sharm el-Sheikh to host such an international conference on Iraq.

In November of 2004, the resort held a similar ministerial meeting on Iraq's security, which gathered senior diplomats from about 20 nations and regional and international organizations.

Source: Xinhua