French-German-Russian Declaration

• Our common objective remains the full and effective disarmament of Iraq, in compliance with Resolution 1441.
• We consider that this objective can be achieved by the peaceful means of the inspections.
• We moreover observe that these inspections are producing increasingly encouraging results:
• The destruction of the Al-Samoud missiles has started and is making progress,
• Iraqis are providing biological and chemical information,
• The interviews with Iraqi scientists are continuing.
• Russia, Germany and France resolutely support Messrs Blix and El-Baradei and consider the meeting of the Council on 7 March to be an important step in the process put in place.
• We firmly call for the Iraqi authorities to co-operate more actively with the inspectors to fully disarm their country. These inspections cannot continue indefinitely.
• We consequently ask that the inspections now be speeded up, in keeping with the proposals put forward in the memorandum submitted to the Security Council by our three countries. We must:
  • Specify and prioritise the remaining issues, programme by programme,
  • Establish, for each point, detailed timelines.
• Using this method, the inspectors have to present without any delay their work programme accompanied by regular progress reports to the Security Council. This programme could provide for a meeting clause to enable the Council to evaluate the overall results of this process.
• In these circumstances, we will not let a proposed resolution pass that would authorise the use of force.
• Russia and France, as permanent members of the Security Council, will assume all their responsibilities on this point.
• We are at a turning point. Since our goal is the peaceful and full disarmament of Iraq, we have today the chance to obtain through peaceful means a comprehensive settlement for the Middle-East, starting with a move forward in the peace process, by:
  • Publishing and implementing the roadmap;
  • Putting together a general framework for the Middle-East, based on stability and security, renunciation of force, arms control and trust building measures.