During a meeting with Iraqi President Fuad Masum on Saturday, Rouhani pointing out that Iran was the first country to fight against the terrorists with the help of Iraqi people and government, said “today, we are very pleased that the Iraqi people have gained successive and brilliant victories over terrorists.”
Rouhani emphasized the development of strong ties between the two nations and governments of Iran and Iraq, saying “facilitation of interaction between the people and economic activists of both countries can deepen and extend the long-standing and durable ties between the two countries, the objective that can be fulfilled through facilitation of travel and visa issuing.”
President Rouhani noted the importance of developing road and rail communications between the two countries, and said Iran and Iraq railways could be connected in the south and west expanding relations between people, economic activists and, in general, greatly facilitating the transactions between the two countries.
He urged the final settlement of the problems and the expansion of banking relations between the two countries and said that the development of banking cooperation plays a major role in strengthening the economic and commercial relations between the two countries.
Fuad Masum, for his part, felicitated Iran’s president for his reelection, expressing hope for further expansion of ties between the two countries during Dr. Rouhani’s second term.
Iraqi president added that the strong ties between Iran and Iraq were more proved when Iraq was plagued by a growing difficulty, when the ISIL terrorist group had occupied some Iraqi cities and planned to occupy a number of other cities. “The aids of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Iraqi people were very effective in confronting ISIL,” he added.
Iraq is a rich country, and is willing to use the facilities to reduce reliance on oil and gas revenues, using Iranian experience and cooperation, as the Islamic Republic has successfully implemented the policy, Masum noted.
The Iraqi president said as Iran-Iraq cooperation is very important in confronting terrorism, it should be strengthened.
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