Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt ? Iraq emerged from a vital conference Friday with a promise from Arab countries to stop foreign militants from joining Iraq’s insurgency. But Baghdad didn’t get the debt relief it wanted, and its Sunni Arab neighbors demand Iraq’s Shiite-led government enact tough political reforms.

The two-day gathering of top diplomats from the region, the United States and around the world was the warmest yet between Iraq and Arab countries, but suspicions remained between the two sides.

“We will see the extent of the seriousness and commitment among these nations to what they signed today,” Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told reporters. “If these promises are not kept, we will watch it, and there will be no reason to hold any further conferences.”

Baghdad also did not achieve another goal – progress in easing tensions between the United States and Iran, whose disputes Iraqis say are fueling the chaos in their country. Despite urging from the Iraqis, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki did not hold talks – only exchanged wary pleasantries over lunch.

“Everyone has an agenda, and it has damaged the situation in Iraq,” al-Maliki said of differences among the U.S., Iran and Syria. “We had hoped for a dialogue. Squabble anywhere else in the world, but not on Iraqi soil.”

The United States accuses Iran of arming militants in Iraq and says Syria is allowing Sunni insurgents to enter the war-torn country. Both countries deny the accusations, and Mottaki on Friday said the U.S. military presence in Iraq was the cause of the bloodshed.

Al-Maliki’s government has long pressed its neighbors to do more to stop fighters from infiltrating from their territory, and the Shiites who dominate his coalition accuse Arab countries of being biased toward Iraq’s Sunni Arab minority.

Arab governments, in turn, blame Shiite discrimination against Sunnis for fueling the insurgency and fear Shiite power will boost the power of mainly Shiite Iran in the region. They demand al-Maliki enact reforms to give Sunni Arabs a greater role – including amending the constitution, bringing more Sunnis into the military and government and ending the purge of former members of Saddam Hussein’s ousted Sunni-led Baath party.

In a declaration Friday, both sides repeated promises to meet the demands of the other. The declaration called for all states to “prevent the use by terrorists of their territory” and bar their transit.