The UN Security Council on Wednesday unanimously adopted a draft resolution lifting Saddam-era restrictions on civilian nuclear development in Iraq, while also ending several UN mandates in the country.

The move came as U.S. Vice President Joe Biden chaired a high-level meeting of the Security Council to mark a new phase of change and transition in Iraq. The United States holds the rotating Security Council presidency for December.

The 15-member Council voted to end restrictions on the international import of nuclear technology to Iraq -- a penalty imposed in 1991 following Saddam's invasion of Kuwait that resulted in the first Gulf War.

"This meeting is a milestone for Iraq. Its people have tremendous hardship, they continue to struggle insecurity and appalling violence," said UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon in his address to the Council.

"But today we recognize how far the country has come in key aspects of its journey to normalize its status in the community of nations," he added.

The Council unanimously adopted a second resolution bringing a complete end to the UN oil-for-food program that provided Iraq with the opportunity to sell oil on the market in order to finance the purchase of food and humanitarian goods.

Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs Hoshyar Zebari lauded the termination of the residual activities of the oil-for-food program. "This program was marred with a web of mismanagement and misappropriation and its termination lifts another burden on Iraq' s recovery," he said.

The original resolutions were passed by the Security Council in 1990 under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which enabled the imposition of sanctions and the international military operation to liberate Kuwait from the Iraqi invasion in 1991.

Meanwhile, the Security Council adopted a third resolution -- with 14 votes in favor and 1 abstention -- extending UN protection for a period of six months for the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI), which was set up after the 2003 war to handle oil and other revenues.

"Iraq still faces tremendous challenges," noted Zebari.

However, "the adoption of these important resolutions marks the beginning of the end of the sanctions regime and restrictions on Iraq's sovereignty, independence and recovery," he added.