Foreign ministers and representatives from more than 80 countries are in Brussels today to discuss the rebuilding of Iraq.

The one-day conference, which is being hosted jointly by America and the European Union, is expected to give Iraq's new transitional government a chance to describe the work that it is doing and to ask for support for the people of Iraq.

In response, the international community will ask that Iraq's Sunni minority be given a larger role in the country's government. The destabilising insurgency in Iraq is mainly led by Sunni rebels.

The meeting comes before a donors' conference in Amman next month, which will discuss how billions of dollars of aid promised to Iraq has not been spent because of the continuing violence.

Opening the conference, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said to the gathering of foreign ministers: "You send an important message which I hope is heard loud and clear both in Iraq and elsewhere: the international community supports the government and the people of Iraq, and we are determined that the reconstruction of Iraq... must succeed."

But the Secretary-General stressed that decision making in Iraq's nascent democracy must be more inclusive. "Iraqis must find it within themselves to reach out to one another and address issues on which they may differ," said Mr Annan. "Without an inclusive process, security initiatives are unlikely to yield enduring results."

The Shia-led transitional government, which is charged with completing a draft constitution for Iraq by August 15, agreed last week to increase the numbers of Sunni leaders involved in the process.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice echoed the Secretary-General in offering support but also calling for more work from the Iraqi authorities.

"The brave people of Iraq are asking us to stand with them -- and they deserve our full support," said Miss Rice.

"Iraq in turn has obligations of its own. To maximise the financial benefits of assistance, the new Iraqi government must continue to improve security, liberalise its economy and open political space for all members of Iraqi society who reject violence."

The Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari are both at the conference.

In his speech Mr Zebari is expected to announce that Egypt is the first Arab nation to send an ambassador to Iraq. He praises Egypt for "showing regional leadership".

Arab nations withdrew their ambassadors from Baghdad under Saddam Hussein. Some now have diplomats in Baghdad, but none until now at ambassador level.

Writing this week in The Wall Street Journal, Mr Zebari says that current efforts in Iraq were focused on eliminating corruption, economic reconstruction and imposing the rule of law.

He adds that today's conference gives a chance to improve the legitimacy of the six-week old transitional government. "The purpose of this conference is primarily political, to send a clear message that the international community will stand by the people of Iraq," he writes.

The conference will also raise the possibility of further debt relief for Iraq. Under Saddam Hussein, Iraq borrowed $120 billion, mainly to finance the war with Iran which lasted from 1980 to 1988. Tens of billions of dollars of loans were written off last year.

Egypt is expected to announce that it will renew high level political relations with Iraq and send an ambassador to Baghdad.

The gathering also gives European countries and the US the chance to demonstrate that transatlantic disagreements over the war have given way to a common resolve to rebuild Iraq.

"Europe was divided on this question; now we are unified ... to make life better in Iraq," said Jean Asselborn, foreign minister of Luxembourg.

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