After meeting with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan in New York, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters he expects a new resolution to be introduced to the Security Council by May 9 that would lift sanctions on Iraq.

Without commenting on the specifics of the resolution, Powell described it after his May 7 meeting as a "forwarding looking" resolution designed to unite the international community in efforts to help Iraqis create a better life and new government.

"It is also a resolution that will give a role to the Secretary General to play and the United Nations to play, to play the vital role that President Bush has spoken of," Powell told reporters.

May 7, 2003

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, can I ask about the resolution? When is it coming? (Inaudible) the resolution that President Bush (inaudible) three weeks to the day. When is the resolution to lift sanctions coming, and will it be cosponsored by the U.S. and the UK?

SECRETARY POWELL: I just had a good conversation with the Secretary General, where I had the opportunity to describe the kind of resolution that we believe is appropriate. And we would expect to present it to all the Council members this week.

QUESTION: What's in it?

SECRETARY POWELL: It will be a resolution -- I'm not going to go into the details of it, but you can be sure that it is a resolution that will not fight the battles of the past, but is forward looking; a resolution that will unite the international community to help the people of Iraq to a better life and to build a new government; it will lift the sanctions, to that end.

And I think it is a resolution that everybody will be able to rally around. And it is also a resolution that will give a role to the Secretary General to play and the United Nations to play, to play the vital role that President Bush has spoken of.

QUESTION: Sir, Mr. Wolfowitz said today a comment on Turkish television saying that Turkey should apologize for its policies about Iraq. Do you think Turkey should apologize?

SECRETARY POWELL: I didn't hear that. It's well known that we were --

QUESTION: Is this your idea of what -- of Turkey's stance so far?

SECRETARY POWELL: Yes, well, I was in Turkey a few weeks ago, and as Mr. Wolfowitz said and as I said then, we had been disappointed by Turkish actions earlier in the year. But Turkey is a good friend, a good ally, and they are working with us now in a very cooperative way and, notwithstanding that disappointment of a couple of months ago, remains a strong friend and ally. And we have a good partnership with Turkey and I'm sure it will continue to grow in the years ahead.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, Germany and France (inaudible) Iraq resolution (inaudible) military strike?

SECRETARY POWELL: We are working with all of our friends, and to include Germany and France and Russia and China and the elected ten members as well, on this resolution. And whatever happened in the past is in the past. We are not now talking about a matter of war. We are talking about a matter of peace. We are talking about a matter of hope. We are talking about helping the Iraqi people, and this resolution has that as its singular purpose: to help the Iraqi people to obtain a better life for themselves and their children and to put in place a democratic form of government representing all the people of Iraq that will live in peace with its neighbors and be a responsible nation among the family of nations.

Thank you.