UN: The US and France could agree on the text of a UN resolution ending 12 years of sanctions on Iraq, Mr Richard Haass said yesterday in Paris.Mr Haass, director for policy planning staff at the State Department and President Bush's envoy on Northern Ireland, was briefing journalists during a trip to meet French officials.
"I come away from consultations fairly optimistic we can reach closure on this," he told reporters. "I do not see this becoming a replay of what happened several months ago," he said, referring to the dispute between Washington and Paris in the UN Security Council over the US plans for war in Iraq.
"It's in everyone's interest to make this work and this resolution is essential to that," he said of the reconstruction of Iraq.
Mr Haass acknowledged Franco-US relations have been hit hard by the dispute over Iraq, but insisted the time had come to pull together.
"It's not in anyone's interest for this relationship to be bad. This is an important relationship," he said. - (Reuters)