Iraq's deputy foreign minister urged his country's neighbours on Wednesday for genuine support and said he hoped a meeting here on Iraq's deteriorating security would produce real results instead of broken promises. But key regional power player Saudi Arabia was absent from the first meeting of the newly created Security Committee for Coordination and Cooperation on Iraq. A US delegation headed by Washington's top diplomat in Syria Charge d'Affaires Michael Corbin, attended the two-day meeting, as well as representatives of Iraq's other neighbours, including Iran, the Arab League, Bahrain and Egypt and UN Security Council permanent members. Saudi Arabia's absence was likely due to its bad relations with the Syrian government. Saudi officials would not comment, but the kingdom and Damascus have been deeply divided over Syria's ties to Iran and the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. "We hope that this meeting will not be a routine one and will be effective and will come up with effective results that achieve the goal of supporting it in its current dilemma,"
Iraq's Deputy Foreign Minister Labib Abbawi said on Wednesday. "Iraq expects real and genuine support in passing through this dilemma and suffering of terrorism and violence," he added.British Embassy official Irfan Siddiq said no specific "demands" were put on the table of the meeting but expressed hope it would end with "positive and tangible results, not just talk." He ruled out any Britain-Syria bilateral meetings on the meeting's sidelines.Hesham Youssef, the Arab League's representative at the meeting, repeated Arab demands that Iraqis reconcile among themselves if the country wants peace and security. "The Arab League believes that national conciliation in Iraq is key to solve Iraq's problems and maintains its unity and achieve stability," he said. Youssef described the atmosphere after the first session as "positive."