"We are agreed that there has to be concerted cooperation, and for that we need a resolution," Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said following talks with her German counterpart Joschka Fischer.

"There must be intensive cooperation with the United Nations on reconstruction" and it was "very important" the international community pulled together, she added.

Kawaguchi said it was also important to establish and maintain security, a task which she agreed belonged to the United States and Britain which led the war.

The ministers said Germany and Japan would cooperate on Iraq, with Fischer saying he believed Tokyo could help bridge the gap between the international community's differing views on reconstruction.

Germany opposed the war on Iraq, and is pressing now for the United Nations to be given the lead role in rehabilitating the country, including shaping its political future as well as handling the humanitarian needs.

The United States and Britain have promised a "vital role" for the United Nations, without appearing to meet French and German calls to give it primacy in the country.

"We want to try all we can to find a common position at the (UN) Security Council," Fischer said.

He said UN legitimacy and upcoming resolutions were "the best way and the most necessary way to secure peace in Iraq."

Kawaguchi, whose country has replied to a UN call for humanitarian aid for Iraq by promising up to 100 million dollars, is on a short tour of Europe also taking in Britain and France.

Unlike Germany, and despite opposition at home, Japan supported the US-led war, and has put forward a five-point plan including full UN involvement and support for Iraq's territorial integrity.

SPACE.WIRE