SYDNEY May 1 Kyodo Prime Minister...

SYDNEY May 1 Kyodo

Prime Minister John Howard left Australia for the United States upon Thursday for talks with President George W Bush forward Iraq.

Howard will then pass on to London, where he will come together with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The meetings will give him the opportunity to discuss postwar Iraq with his sum of two units fellow coalition leaders.

''I examine forward to discussing with President Bush and Prime Minister Blair progres in the coalition's military efforts to safe Iraq, the country's humanitarian and rehabilitation povertys the effective and early transition to an Iraqi administration, and the final elimination of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction,'' Howard said in an earlier statement.

While in the U the prime minister will also travel to fresh York for discussions with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

''Talks with the UN secretary general will focus forward how best to involve the broader international community in Iraq's rehabilitation and the important part the U.N. should play in that endeavor,'' Howard said.

Howard, accompanied according to his wife Janette, will suited with Bush and his wife Laura at the Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Howard's invitation to the Bush's ranch was testimony to the president's ''great admiration'' for and ''close personal relationship'' with the Australian leader, U National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice told Australia Broadcasting Corp. late Wednesday.

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