The Northern Ireland peace process holds lessons for solving other conflicts around the world, Peter Hain has said.

Speaking at a Chatham House event on Tuesday, the Ulster secretary was setting out six "fundamental principles" which can encourage conflict resolution.

He pointed to the need to create space and time in which politics can develop and the need to identify "key individuals and constructive forces" on all sides of the conflict.

Hain also stressed the need for inclusive dialogue, the need to take risks, generating national and international support for peace, and the "micro-management of a conflict at the highest political level".

"The peace process that brought an end to the longest running, and at times most violently bitter political conflict in Europe, should offer hope to people in the midst of seemingly intractable disputes elsewhere," said Hain.

"The fundamental principles that underpinned the process can inform the approach to conflict resolution across the world."

Pointing to the current situation in the Middle East, he said that the conflict "has not been gripped at a sufficiently high level over a sufficiently sustained period".

And Hain said that in Iraq there had been "a comprehensive lack of understanding of the sectarian forces and fault lines present across the country".

"The problem was compounded of course by post-invasion policy failures," he added.

"We and the government of Iraq have been keen to harness the influence of neighbouring powers, each of whom has an interest in the future stability of Iraq.

"This will need dialogue, including with Sunni and Shia representatives. It also requires a strategy to tackle the rise of Islamist extremism in Iraq.

"Of course, the terrorist threat from al Qaeda is fundamentally different from the terrorist threat that existed in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

"It is not rooted in political objectives capable of negotiation, but rather in a reactionary totalitarian ideology that is completely opposed to democracy, freedom and human rights.

"Negotiation with al Qaeda and its foreign jihadists in Iraq is therefore politically and morally out of the question.

"However, there is another important lesson from Northern Ireland that we can use in Iraq: just as legitimate grievances in Northern Ireland fuelled republican sympathies, grievances in Iraq provide fertile territory for Iraqi militants.

"Addressing people's grievances, as we did in Northern Ireland, can undercut the extremists who seek to inflame and exploit them, so creating more fertile ground for a political process to complement engagement by the elected government of Iraq."

Hain said that democratic governments "have an absolute responsibility to keep optimism alive" and to "believe in the possibility of achieving lasting peace".