The Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held a meeting with the Speaker of Iraqi Parliament Mohamed al-Halbousi in Baghdad on Monday.
In the meeting, which was attended by the deputies of the speaker of Iraqi parliament as well as the heads of Iraqi Parliament committees, al-Halbousi pointed to the shared history and interests with Iran, expressing his appreciation to Iran for the help during anti-ISIL fight.
The Iraqi parliament speaker also emphasized the strengthening and expansion of bilateral relations with Iran.
The Iranian foreign minister, for his part, referred to the good relations between the two countries, especially parliamentary relations, adding the annual exchange of visits by Iranians and Iraqis to each other’s countries show the high level of bilateral relations.
During the meeting, the heads of the Iraqi parliament’s committees also expressed their views on strengthening and enhancing relations with Iran. They also expressed their readiness to use parliamentary potentials to deepen the ties between the two countries.
Heading a delegation, the Iranian top diplomat arrived in Baghdad yesterday afternoon on a 5-day visit to hold meetings with high-ranking Iraqi as well as Kurdish officials in Erbil and attend three trade meetings between the economic activists from the two countries’ private sectors in the Iraqi cities of Baghdad, Karbala and Sulaymaniyah.
Zarif has so far met with his Iraqi counterpart Muhammad Ali al-Hakim, Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi, as well as President Barham Salih. He is also scheduled to visit the holy sites in Karbala and Najaf on the 5-day visit.
The Zairf-led Iranian delegation’s visit comes in less than a week after the visit of Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh to Baghdad.
KI/4512755