Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif started this morning an official visit to Iraq, and he was received by his Iraqi counterpart Fouad Hussein, where they discussed several issues of concern to the two countries.
During this visit, Zarif will meet the President of the Republic, Barham Salih, Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi, and Parliament Speaker Muhammad al-Halbousi. In the Kurdistan Region, he will also meet President Nigerian Barzani, Prime Minister Masroor Barzani and Democratic Party President Masoud Barzani.
Hussein said during a joint press conference with Zarif after their official meeting, that the biggest challenge facing the two countries was discussed, which is the Corona pandemic that greatly affected them, and ways to confront them.
He pointed out that the pandemic has caused a decrease in the level of trade exchange between the two countries, and a decrease in religious visits due to the closing of the borders in observance of health measures, and added that the two countries seek in the midwife from the days to overcome the pandemic and improve the level of trade exchange and visits.
Hussein said, "We discussed with Zarif the bilateral relations and trade exchange," pointing out that "Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi will visit Iran soon."
During the conference, the Iraqi foreign minister stressed that his country wants balanced relations with neighboring countries, and that the region must be removed from tensions.
"The region and Iraq should be removed from international tensions and the protection of sovereignty," Hussein added, stressing that "Iraq wants balanced relations with neighboring countries."
For his part, Zarif stressed the strong relationship between his country and Iraq, and that there are many agreements that will be activated.
This is the first visit of an Iranian official to Iraq since Al-Kazemi took office as prime minister last April.
Commenting on Zarif's visit, Walid Ibrahim, director of the Al-Jazeera office in Baghdad, said that the Iranian official and his accompanying delegation are expected to discuss with the Iraqi officials many political, commercial and security files related to the relationship between the two countries and the region in general.
He pointed out that the visit comes one day before an upcoming visit by Al-Kazemi to Saudi Arabia. According to observers, Tehran wants to invest the good relationship between Al-Kazemi and the Saudi leadership.
The Al-Jazeera correspondent in Baghdad had stated that Zarif and his accompanying delegation had gone after the reception ceremony to the site of the air raid in which the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander Qassem Soleimani and Deputy Chairman of the Popular Mobilization Organization in Iraq, Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, were killed in the vicinity of Baghdad International Airport, on January 3 Last January.