S/PV.4930 Security Council

The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. The Council is meeting in accordance with the understanding reached in its prior consultations. Members of the Council have before them a letter dated 18 March 2004 from the Secretary-General addressed to the President of the Security Council, which is contained in document S/2004/225. After consultations among members of the Security Council, I have been authorized to make the following statement on behalf of the Council. “The Security Council welcomes the Secretary-General’s letter dated l8 March and the exchange of letters with Dr. Bahr Al-Uloom, Interim President of the Iraqi Governing Council for the month of March 2004, and Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III, Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority. “The Security Council also welcomes and strongly supports the Secretary-General’s decision to dispatch to Iraq his Special Adviser, Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi, and his team, as well as an electoral assistance team, as soon as possible, in order to lend assistance and advice to the Iraqi people on the formation of an interim Iraqi Government to which sovereignty will be transferred on 30 June 2004, as well as on the preparations for direct elections to be held before the end of January 2005. “The Security Council calls on all parties in Iraq to cooperate fully with these United Nations teams, and welcomes the security and other support provided to them by the Iraqi Governing Council and the Coalition Provisional Authority.” This statement will be issued as a document of the Security Council under the symbol S/PRST/2004/6. The Security Council has thus concluded the present stage of its consideration of the item on its agenda.