Bush sees 'test' for Iran, Syria

TAMPA, United States (AFP) - US President George W. Bush said Tuesday that a conference this week on Iraq's security will be "an important test" of whether Iran and Syria truly want to help their war-torn neighbor.

"Iran and Syria have been invited to attend. This will be an important test of whether these regimes are truly interested in playing a constructive role in Iraq," Bush said in a speech defending his handling of the unpopular war.

The May 3-4 conference in Egypt will group all of Iraq's neighbors, the five permanent UN Security Council members, plus representatives from the United Nations, the European Union, Canada, Germany and Japan.

Washington has accused Damascus of letting fighters slip into Iraq to target US-led forces and charges Tehran has provided training and weapons to insurgents behind much of the deadly violence in the strife-torn country.

The meetings in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh will be divided, with one on security and the other among Iraqi donors aiming to slash Baghdad's foreign debt and boost reconstruction efforts.

Thursday's meeting will be within the framework of the International Compact with Iraq (ICI), launched in Baghdad in July with UN and World Bank support.

The compact, which has strong support from Washington, has goals that include Iraq's equal treatment of all its ethnic groups, an equitable partition of the country's oil export revenues and support for the government to fight corruption and practice good governance.

The ICI is to be adopted on Thursday, after three sessions, including two that are closed, according to state-owned daily Al-Akhbar.

On Friday, a meeting on Iraq's security will bring together Iraq's six neighbors -- Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey -- as well as Egypt, Bahrain, the Arab League, the Organisation of Islamic Conference and the United Nations.