French minister visits Iraq

Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner arrived in Baghdad yesterday becoming the first senior French official to visit Iraq since the beginning of the US-led war in 2003, which France vigorously opposed.

Mr Kouchner's touch-down in Baghdad coincided with President Nicolas Sarkozy's return from a holiday in the US which was seen as an effort to improve relations with US President George W. Bush after a bitter fallout over the war.

"At the invitation of Jalal Talabani, President of Iraq, the foreign minister has just begun an official visit to Baghdad," the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.