Foreign ministers of Iraq, Russia discuss mutual relations, key regional issues

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein have discussed mutual relations and leading developments in the region.

In a phone conversation on Saturday, Hussein expressed appreciation for Russia’s support for Iraq’s request from the United Nations Security Council to send observers to monitor the electoral process, the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, as Baghdad is set to hold parliamentary elections in October.

He stressed the importance of holding elections to establish correct foundations for a democratic system in the country, it added.

It noted that the two foreign ministers also exchanged views about bilateral ties and the need to push commercial relations into broader areas while emphasizing on the important role that Russian oil companies are playing in Iraq.

The statement noted that they stressed the need to prepare a broad and diversified agenda for the upcoming meeting of the Iraqi-Russian committee, which is scheduled to be held in Moscow next month.

It said the top Iraqi and Russian diplomats further discussed “the Palestinian situation and the need to support the Palestinians to reach their legitimate goals.”

“They expressed their concern about the emergence of some internal differences among the Palestinians, and stressed the need to resolve these differences and unify the Palestinian ranks,” it added.

The statement said Hussein and Lavrov also conferred on “the Syrian situation and the values ​​of the Iraqi position that supports Syria’s return to its seat in the Arab League.”

They stressed the importance of the “need for continuity of communication and joint action in areas that concern security and stability in the region.”

During the call, the Russian foreign minister also reaffirmed Moscow’s support for the Iraqi government in its efforts to restore security and stability to the war-ravaged country and eliminate terrorism.

Moscow and Baghdad have held several rounds of talks in recent years on enhancing their defense cooperation. Russian energy firms have also invested billions of dollars in the Iraqi oil industry.

Russia pledges unwavering support for Iraq in anti-terror fight

Russia reaffirms its unwavering support for Iraq in its fight against terrorism.

In 2015, a year after the Daesh terror group emerged in Iraq and Syria, Russia and Iraq together with Iran and Syria formed a joint intelligence-sharing committee against the Takfiri outfit, with its operation rooms based in Baghdad’s Green Zone and Damascus.

The coalition’s members have since held several meetings mainly focused on providing the Iraqi and Syrian national armies with intelligence about the whereabouts of Takfiri terrorists in the two Middle Eastern states.

Iraq ended Daesh’s territorial rule in the country in December 2017 after a three-year counter-terrorism military campaign.

Currently, the Iraqi army, backed by the allied Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), is working to cleanse the country of the remnants of Daesh, which have been staging launching sporadic attacks in the hope of regrouping and unleashing a new era of terror and destruction.

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