Chirac Calls for Multi-Polar World

Speaking on Thursday at an event organized by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, Jacques Chirac said "it is by recognizing the new reality of a multi-polar and interdependent world that we will succeed in building a sounder and fairer international order. This is why we must work together to revive multilateralism, a multilateralism based on a reformed and strengthened United Nations." Chirac also said that the world should not be based on a "logic of power" as it would eventually lead to conflict or crisis. Both the French President and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who were marking the 100th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale between the two countries, sought to overcome their differences on the war in Iraq. "The differences at the time of the conflict were well known but ... both of us want to see a stable and democratic Iraq and will do what we can to ensure that happens", said Blair on Thursday. According to Mr Chirac, Iraq is the "one and only issue" on which London and Paris disagreed. "Who is right or wrong, history will tell", he said. (EUobserver.com)