Vice President Biden spoke today to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to discuss the December 15th United Nations Security Council High-Level Meeting on Iraq that the Vice President will chair.  The purpose of the UN session is to recognize and reinforce the important progress that the Republic of Iraq has made and to discuss ways in which Members can continue to support Iraq’s government and people.  The Vice President and Prime Minister also discussed joint efforts to enable Iraq to return to the international standing that it enjoyed prior to the adoption of Chapter VII resolutions, as well as the security situation in Iraq and progress on government formation.