ROME, Nov. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Thursday Italian troops would not be pulled out of Iraq until they were no longer wanted.

    At a press conference after his talks with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, Berlusconi said it was the duty of Italy, as the world's sixth-largest economic power, to "shoulder the burden of defending democracy and spreading it in the world."

    Italy did not participate in the war on Iraq but now has some 3,000 troops serving there, mainly as part of a British-led multinational stabilization force in the southern part of the country.

    Berlusconi also asked for Allawi's help in discovering the body of the freelance journalist Enzo Baldoni, beheaded by extremist militants in Iraq in August.

    Allawi told reporters he wanted those countries who have so far been "spectators" in the Iraq war to bring the international community back to the country.

    He stressed the "continual support" Iraq had received from Italy in trying to build a "democratic, constitutional and free Iraq."

    "Our goal is democracy and the rule of law and we are determined to achieve it," he said, in the conviction that "stability in Iraq will bring stability to the region and the world."

    "We have to turn from the past, the war, and look to the future,to building more constructive relations with all countries," Allawi said.

    He voiced the hope that cooperation with Italy will become closer and closer.

    Allawi arrived in Rome Wednesday for his first visit to Italy, and is scheduled to meet with leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union in Brussels on Friday.

    He will also hold talks with NATO officials on the training of Iraqi security forces by the alliance's military personnel. Enditem