China called on the international community on Friday to honor its commitment of aid to Iraq so as to help speed up its process of reconstruction and development.

La Yuefan, minister counselor from the Chinese mission to the United Nations, said at the Security Council meeting on the situation concerning Iraq that for progress in security and political fields to be effectively consolidated, economic and social reconstruction must also move ahead.

In this regard, "we call upon the international community to truly honor its commitment of aid to Iraq by helping Iraq speed up its process of reconstruction and development," La said, adding that China supports the meeting of foreign ministers of neighboring countries and other mechanisms playing a bigger role.

China also hopes that the Iraqi government will continue to lead all factions to agree on the common vision for the future of the country by placing national interests above everything else and strengthening dialogue and unity, La said.

"We encourage UNAMI (the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq) to continue its positive role in this regard. We believe it is essential to promote political dialogue and national reconciliation of Iraq in order to consolidate the progress already achieved in various fields," the Chinese diplomat said.

Noting that right now the process of peace and recovery in Iraq is at a critical juncture, La said China welcomes the continuous progress achieved by Iraq in the political, security and recovery fields.

However, he pointed out that the overall security situation in Iraq remained fragile.

"We are especially concerned about the large number of civilian casualties caused by military operations and violent attacks," La said.

"We call once again upon the parties concerned to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties while carrying out military operations," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency November 15, 2008)