French President Emmanuel Macron began a lightning visit to Baghdad aimed at "supporting the sovereignty of Iraq," and this comes after a second visit to Lebanon which focused on forming a new government with specific specifications in order to gain support from abroad.
Macron arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday morning from Beirut on a visit, the first since he assumed his duties as President of France in 2017, and during the visit, which takes a few hours, he will meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi, President Barham Salih, Parliament Speaker Muhammad al-Halbousi, and Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani. In the city of Najaf, the supreme Shiite authority, Ali al-Sistani.
Sources in the French presidency said that the visit will focus on strengthening cooperation between Iraq and France, especially in the economic, cultural and security fields.
She added that France would support efforts to strengthen Iraqi sovereignty and the security capabilities of the Iraqi armed forces, especially in the field of training.
Macron had said in a press conference in Beirut on Tuesday that he would visit Iraq today to launch, in cooperation with the United Nations, an initiative to support the "march of sovereignty" in this country.
Iraqi sources said that his visit would focus on Iraqi "sovereignty" in light of Baghdad's efforts to follow an independent path away from the confrontation between Iran and the United States, and to strengthen its relationship with the Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia.
The French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian visited Iraq in mid-July and called on Baghdad to "distance itself from regional tensions."
According to Iraqi sources, the Iraqi talks will deal with stability in the region and combating terrorism.
In turn, the Iraqi government newspaper, Al-Sabah, issued today, said that the French president’s visit carries important and sensitive files, and expresses Paris’s standing by Baghdad in various levels.
The newspaper quoted Deputy in the Iraqi Parliament, Pricean Al-Aajibi, that Macron's visit comes as a support for the Iraqi government, and will be a source of strength, especially from the military point of view, as France can export warplanes to Iraq.
Al-Aajibi suggested that the Iraqi and French sides would discuss the issue of the Turkish bombing against the PKK sites in northern Iraq.
The government of Lebanon
and Macron said yesterday in Beirut that the Lebanese political forces pledged to form the new government headed by Mustafa Adeeb within 15 days, warning of the consequences if those forces did not achieve what they pledged by the end of next October.
Macron added in a press conference that he had contacted Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and international leaders before he embarked on the path of helping Lebanon, explaining that he felt that these leaders had a will to allow Lebanon to follow its path.
He added that he will not present Lebanon with a blank check, and that if reforms are not implemented, international aid will stop, indicating that the most important reforms required are reforming the electricity, banking sector, and the judiciary.
He stressed that the partisan forces, in coordination with the Lebanese President Michel Aoun, have all committed themselves to making the government ready within the coming days, with qualified figures and enjoys the support of all political forces.
Macron said that he invited Lebanese President Michel Aoun, the new Prime Minister Mustafa Adib, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and the rest of the powers to attend a conference to be held in Paris in October to assess the reforms that the Lebanese authorities will achieve.
He also said that his country will organize a new international conference with the United Nations in Paris in the second half of next month to help Lebanon, which is suffering from a suffocating financial crisis, added to the repercussions of the devastating explosion that struck the Beirut port early last month.
Last month, France sponsored an international conference in support of Lebanon, during which the participants pledged to provide more than 250 million euros to help the Lebanese, provided that it would be provided under the auspices of the United Nations, and directly to the Lebanese people.
The Reuters news agency reported that the French President stated that it is possible to impose sanctions on the Lebanese authorities in the event of their corruption, adding that it will be coordinated with the European Union.
A third
visit and Macron’s visit to Lebanon is the second since the Beirut Port bombing, and the French presidency announced that he plans a third visit to Beirut next December.
The Lebanese political forces anticipated the arrival of the French President to Beirut by agreeing to assign Mustafa Adib (48 years) to form the next government, after Hassan Diab's government resigned under public pressure following the port explosion.
Adeeb is Lebanon’s ambassador to Germany, and he is an unknown figure to the Lebanese. Macron said in statements to the French website Prut on Tuesday that he would “put his weight” so that Adeeb, whom he met twice in the past two days, could quickly form a government capable of “launching structural reforms.” .