Germany is willing to help Iraq's new government set up ministries and write a new constitution following elections last weekend, German Interior Minister Otto Schily said on Thursday. Schily said he had held talks with U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday, and both countries had agreed to move beyond their disagreements over the Iraq war to focus on creating a stable future for the country. He said they discussed the contributions Germany, which opposed the 2003 invasion, could make in Iraq, adding that German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder would take up these issues with Bush when he travels to Europe later this month. "Certainly a topic which the chancellor will surely discuss with the president will be to what extent we can help in setting up ministries and their administrative structure, or concerning the issue of the future Iraqi constitution," Schily told reporters. "We will certainly not decline to do our part when it comes to helping the new, democratically elected Iraqi government build reliable structures and administrative bodies. The same holds true for developing a good constitution," he said.
