Agence France Presse

Dubai, March 2,

The Coalition Provisional Authority, which has run Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein, will cease to exist with the transfer of power to Iraqis on June 30, a senior CPA official said today.

"As from July 1, the legal existence of CPA cannot continue," said Andy Dearpark, CPA director of operations. "It will finish."

There would be "no new CPA" to replace the old body which has run the country since the overthrow of the Baath regime last April, Dearpark told a conference on Iraq in this Gulf Emirate.

CPA personnel would transfer to their respective embassies and the role of foreign advisers who have worked in the new Iraqi ministers would also come to an end.

However, "some advisers can be maintained at the request of the Iraqi government," Dearpark said. "The Iraqi government will be responsible," for the country, "with the help of the US and the UK," he added. "I am absolutely convinced that Iraq will succeed."

Dearpark noted that "the mission of ambassador (Paul) Bremer will be over," at the head of the CPA on the same date as Iraqis take power.

On the sidelines of the conference organised by the Middle East Economic Digest and called "Iraq: Focussing on the Future", Dearpark told AFP that investors and businessmen would have to deal directly with the new Iraqi government.