The United States has sought an early lifting of UN sanctions against Iraq that would free oil exports and suspend some trade restrictions that Washington imposed more than a decade ago.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, after visiting UN Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan, said he expected to produce a Security Council resolution this week that would also give the UN a "vital" role in the country's future.
The draft is expected to be distributed to the 15 UN Security Council members on Friday. Failing that, it would be circulated on Monday, Bush administration officials said.
Mr Powell said he was working with "all our friends" -including Germany, France, Russia and China - who had opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq. "Whatever is in the past is in the past. We are not now talking about a matter of war. We are talking about a matter of peace," he said.
Diplomats said the draft would include an undefined political and economic role for the UN, which was to appoint a special coordinator.
A UN representative named by Mr Annan would have a seat on a board that would oversee revenues from Iraq's oil industry, the envoys said. US oil executives, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are expected to be on the board.
The resolution would phase out the oil-for-food program me, but it is uncertain which or how many pending contracts will be honoured, as Russia has insisted.
Without adoption of the resolution, no Iraqi or US entity in Baghdad has the legal authority to export oil. Washington wants it adopted by June 3rd, when the oil-for-food programme is up for renewal.
The multi-billion dollar program was designed to ease the impact of sanctions which were imposed when Saddam Hussein's troops invaded Kuwait in August 1990. The programme, which now has more than $12 billion, allowed Iraq to sell oil to purchase civilian goods under UN supervision. Oil revenues are deposited into a UN escrow account, which is used to pay suppliers.
But the draft resolution does not call for the return of UN arms inspectors to verify that Iraq no longer has alleged weapons of mass destruction, as specified in UN resolutions and which several council members have demanded.