France's Kouchner in southern Iraq (Roundup)

May 31, 2008, 10:20 GMT

Baghdad/Paris - French Minister of Foreign Affairs Bernard Kouchner arrived in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya on an unannounced visit Saturday - his second since a three-day visit to Baghdad last August.

Iraqi governmental sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that Iraqi Vice-President Adel Abdul-Mahdy received the French minister at the airport in the early hours of Saturday.

Kouchner started his trip with a tour of one of the city's monumental sites.

He told reporters that the visit was in response to Abdul-Mahdy's invitation to visit Iraq and he aimed to see the city's historic monuments.

Kouchner stressed that the visit will trigger 'a true enhancement in relations between France and the Iraqi people in addition to providing support to all southern Iraqi cities.'

Kouchner's earlier visit marked the first public contact between France and the Iraqi government since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 which France roundly criticised.

The French Foreign Ministry said the latest visit would see Kouchner hold meetings with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, President Jalal Talabani and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.

He would also meet religious and civic leaders, and visit the southern city of Nassiriya and the Kurdish northern city of Arbil, where he would inaugurate an office of the French embassy.

A ministry statement in Paris said the latest visit, shortly before France assumes the rotating presidency of the European Union, was in line with 'France's renewed political engagement toward Iraq.'