Iraq's oil minister becomes the first member of his government to visit Australia and steps into a growing political debate about whether Australian troops should quit his embattled country.
Hussain al-Shahristani says Thursday in Canbera that international troops could be withdrawn as early as next year.
"Almost half of the country now is totally under control of the Iraqi forces and the other half we are planning by the end of 2007 or perhaps 2008 to have sufficient trained and equipped Iraqi forces to take over responsibility."
Australia sent two-thousand troops to bolster US and British forces and 1,300 Australian soldiers remain in and around Iraq.
Australia's opposition Labour Party has pledged to withdraw most of the Australian troops from the war-torn country if it wins elections next year.
However, Prime Minister John Howard argues that although Australia's contribution was relatively small, such a withdrawal would be a victory for the insurgents.
For his part, Al-Shahristani disagrees that an immediate withdrawal of coalition forces would deliver terrorists victory in Iraq.
He says more and more Iraqi people were joining the government forces and expelling insurgents from their regions.
OPTIONAL--
[[On oil prices, Al-Shahristani says that the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries is willing to keep the price and supply stable.
"OPEC is committed to make oil available to the world market and the world economy at a reasonable price acceptable to the producers and to the consumers. We are watching the market very carefully." ]]
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Director: Liu Chi