"We are in a new phase of relations with our friends in Europe as well as elsewhere," said Straw on BBC radio's Today program.

"There was good cooperation last week over the (United Nations) oil-for-food resolution, and we are now entering into discussions about the post-conflict arrangements," he said.

Straw was to meet his German counterpart Joshka Fischer in Berlin later Wednesday, then see French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin and Russia's Igor Ivanov during a NATO meeting in Brussels on Thursday.

Relations were badly strained in the run-up to the Iraq war when Britain accused France of foiling an Anglo-US-Spanish bid to get a new UN Security Council resolution that would have endorsed the US-led attack on Baghdad.

Straw revealed that in the past week, he has spoken "two or three times" with Villepin, who is close to French President Jacques Chirac, a leading critic of using war to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction.

"The governements of Germany and France have now made clear that they wish to see this military action brought to a satisfactory conclusion with a victory for the coalition," the foreign secretary said.

"Meanwhile, we are in a new phase of relations with our friends in Europe, as well as elsewhere," he said

Straw reiterated Britain's determination to see that any post-war Iraqi administration is endorsed by the United Nations, though he kept back from saying that the UN should be put directly in charge of running the country.

"What we have agreed with the United States is that the post-conflict arrangements should be endorsed by the UN," he said.

"If that is so, they have got to be acceptable to the UN, and what we will be seeking is a representative government, an interim Iraqi authority, moving to a more representative government which is drawn from the Iraqi people."

"There could be advisers from other countries," he said, "but there will not be foreign nationals running the Iraqi government. That is not the purpose of this action."

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