The Iraqi government will meet pro-boycott parties next week in a bid to persuade them to take part in the national elections at the end of the month, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said yesterday. Zebari said in an interview that an NGO, the Iraqi Committee for Peace and Solidarity, is to host a conference on reconciliation between the government and its opponents in Baghdad on January 16. "All those who want to boycott the elections are invited to express their views," he said.The interim Iraqi government has come under Arab and international pressure to make greater efforts to engage all Iraqis in the January 30 elections. Some leaders of the Sunni community have called for a boycott, or at least a postponement until the insurgency is contained. It is widely feared that a low turnout on January 30 will undermine the polls' credibility and encourage the insurgency. "We will do our utmost to make the elections comprehensive," Zebari said. "We want everybody to cast his vote. This is an election for all." Zebari named one of the boycott groups invited to the meeting as the Association of Muslim Scholars, an influential body of Sunni clerics.