Baghdad-INA
The government spokesperson Haider al-Aboudi said on Monday that Prime Minister Ali Falih al-Zaidi would discuss key strategic issues with U.S. President Donald Trump during talks in Washington on Tuesday.
Al-Aboudi told the Iraqi News Agency (INA) that the Iraqi delegation, headed by al-Zaidi, had arrived in Washington carrying strategic files related to the economy, investment and development.
He said these issues formed part of the Iraqi government’s ministerial program aimed at strengthening the economy and expanding investment and economic development opportunities in Iraq.
Al-Aboudi added that the main topics to be discussed between al-Zaidi and Trump would take into account the level of strategic partnership between Iraq and the United States. He said the talks represented an important step toward strengthening that partnership and shifting it from a focus on crisis management and security cooperation to broader economic cooperation, which he said would provide the relationship with a sustainable strategic dimension.
Earlier on Monday, the Prime Minister’s Media Office announced that al-Zaidi had begun an official visit to the United States.
In a statement received by INA, the office said al-Zaidi had departed for the United States at the head of a high-level official delegation on his first foreign visit since the formation of the government.
The statement said the visit, which came at the invitation of Trump, aimed to advance Iraqi-U.S. relations, strengthen economic and development cooperation, attract investment and expand the role of U.S. companies in implementing infrastructure projects.
It added that the visit would also focus on developing the energy, oil and gas sectors, enhancing national capacity in producing petroleum derivatives and petrochemical industries, and supporting productive sectors as part of efforts to diversify Iraq’s economy.
The office said al-Zaidi would discuss a package of strategic issues during his talks with Trump and other U.S. officials, as well as during meetings with representatives of the American business and economic community, with the aim of consolidating the foundations of the strategic partnership between Iraq and the United States in line with the shared interests of both countries.
