Speaking afterwards in his national capacity, Ambassador de La Sablière said that France reiterated its full support to UNMOVIC and the IAEA in the fulfilment of their mandate, "with the view to achieve and verify the disarmament of Iraq through peaceful means, which is our common objective."
"It implies that all relevant information related to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programme be made available to UNMOVIC and IAEA, so as to ensure the full efficiency of the inspections, and to enable the Council to assess the facts," Ambassador de La Sablière said.
"It implies also, and above all, that Iraq comply fully in the implementation of resolution 1441, especially through an active cooperation with the inspectors. Iraq must in particular provide UNMOVIC and IAEA with additional information to answer the unresolved questions and lift uncertainty."
Ambassador Sergey Lavrov of the Russian Federation said the work of the U.N. inspectors was still in the early stages but that Mr. Blix and Mr. ElBaradei were encouraged with the access they had received to Iraqi facilities.
"I do believe this should be seen as a professional exercise done by professional people presenting their views as they go, and that this should not warrant political agitation around briefings like this one and we will be supporting them," he said. "We have full confidence in what they are doing, and it is up to them to decide how they implement 1441 on the basis of their mandate."
"It implies that all relevant information related to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programme be made available to UNMOVIC and IAEA, so as to ensure the full efficiency of the inspections, and to enable the Council to assess the facts," Ambassador de La Sablière said.
"It implies also, and above all, that Iraq comply fully in the implementation of resolution 1441, especially through an active cooperation with the inspectors. Iraq must in particular provide UNMOVIC and IAEA with additional information to answer the unresolved questions and lift uncertainty."
Ambassador Sergey Lavrov of the Russian Federation said the work of the U.N. inspectors was still in the early stages but that Mr. Blix and Mr. ElBaradei were encouraged with the access they had received to Iraqi facilities.
"I do believe this should be seen as a professional exercise done by professional people presenting their views as they go, and that this should not warrant political agitation around briefings like this one and we will be supporting them," he said. "We have full confidence in what they are doing, and it is up to them to decide how they implement 1441 on the basis of their mandate."