Iraq called on international community to cancel its debt, Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafary said Saturday.

Jafary issued the request in an address delivered at the General Assembly's general debate at UN headquarters in New York.

"I am seizing this opportunity to urge creditor nations to help us by canceling Iraqi debt," he appealed. "That debt was accumulated by the corrupt policies of the previous regime."

Jafary also called on the international community to provide financial aid to Iraq, saying his country must be enabled to rebuild itself, and to grow and develop a healthy prosperous economy.

"I call on the nations to fulfill the promises they made during the international conferences held in Madrid, Brussels, and finally in Jordan to provide financial aid to Iraq," he said.

Jafray also noted that the time has not come for the Iraqi forces to be completely independent, even though some Iraqi cities have prepared to do so.

"We will be asking the multinational forces to leave these cities once we are ready," he noted.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi Prime Minister said Iraq looks forward to having the United Nations to come back to Iraq and open its offices to back up the reconstruction process of Iraq.

(Xinhua News Agency September 19, 2005)