BRUSSELS (AFP) - Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawar called on NATO and the European Union to do more to help stabilize his war-ravaged country ahead of elections which he hopes can be held as planned in January.
Speaking as a massive bomb blast killed at least 47 people in Baghdad, he said he hopes the polls can take place -- but also conceded that if the United Nations advises against it the elections could be delayed.
"We want to have a secure and safe environment so that Iraqis can cast their votes without being intimidated or in fear," Yawar said as he met NATO and EU leaders in Brussels.
But he said that Baghdad would take seriously the view of UN experts in Iraq. "If they decide, if it is proven beyond doubt, that elections could not be held, definitely we will consider rescheduling," he said.
"But we are working seven days a week in order to ensure that elections will be held on time," he told reporters after talks with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
Yawar, on the latest leg of a European tour, met with NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in what was the first visit by an Arab head of state to the Alliance's headquarters.
Before attending a special session of NATO's top decision-making body Yawar, in traditional Iraqi dress, shook hands with all the NATO ambassadors, spending a little bit longer with the US and British representatives, televised pictures of the event showed.
The 26-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is currently considering the expansion of a fledgling training mission already in Iraq, as agreed at a summit in Istanbul in June.
The Iraqi leader said afterwards that NATO officials had given him "a lot of words of support," but his country needed "further and further help from NATO."
On Wednesday NATO ambassadors are expected to discuss options -- possibly including setting up a permanent training centre in Iraq -- although no immediate decisions are expected, diplomats said.
The options include that of NATO taking over all training currently carried out by the United States in Iraq -- although it seems unlikely that countries like France could accept such a prospect, diplomats said.
Another possibility would be to set up a permanent training "academy" in Iraq, they said.
US Ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns said after the talks that the Alliance's decision to establish a training mission in Iraq is "irrevocable".
"In fact, our HQ is already established," he said, adding: "It is NATO's obligation to expand that mission significantly in the coming weeks and months."
De Hoop Scheffer promised to try to speed up the decision on training the new Iraqi army.
"The stakes are high, that's why I'll press for NATO to implement this decision speedily," he said.
The European Union, a major donor of aid to help rebuild Iraq, is currently considering how it can help organize the elections, amid a rising tide of violence.
EU foreign ministers agreed this week to send a new team of experts to Baghdad in the next few weeks, to produce proposals to put to an EU summit in November, to which Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has been invited.
Like NATO, the 25-member EU was deeply divided by last year's Iraq war -- which pitted anti-war countries like France and Germany against a pro-US camp led by Britain -- but has rallied round to help reconstruction efforts.
The Iraqi president has travelled to Poland, Germany and Italy. After Brussels he had been due to travel to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday, but officials there said he has cancelled the trip.