Arab League chief meets senior officials in Baghdad, to visit Erbil on Monday

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Foreign Minister of Iraq, Fuad Hussein, and Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Abou Gheit held a meeting on Saturday in the capital Baghdad as part of a trip by the Arab League leader that includes the Kurdistan Region.

Hussein said during a press conference, “We discussed issues of concern to the situation in the region, the relationship between Iraq and the Arab League, and we talked about Iraq's foreign policy at the present time.”

The meeting included a discussion on Syria, with both sides indicating that the unstable situation affects the Iraqi state of affairs, and “it is necessary to work to find ways on how to build dialogue mechanisms with the various countries that have an impact on the Syrian situation,” the minister said.

Abou Gheit will meet other Iraqi leaders in Baghdad before traveling to Erbil on Monday to meet with officials from the Kurdistan Region.

The secretary-general said, "I carefully follow the Iraqi performance, the strength of this performance, its diplomacy and its approach, which reflects a lot of self-confidence.

“We hope that this visit will support the relations between the Arab League and Iraq, and we hope to host the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Iraqi leadership at the university’s headquarters during the next three months,” he added.

Abou Gheit concluded his conference by saying, “We promise that we will always support Iraq in any demand, as Iraq is one of the founders of the Arab League.”

His trip comes after visits by Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as Iraq seeks an Arab rapprochement.

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Editing by Joanne Stocker-Kelly