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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) -Iraq and the the United Kingdom confirmed forming a ministerial joint committee from Iraq and the UK to develop the economic and the commercial relations between both countries.
The Iraqi Foreign Minister, Hoshyar Zibari said in a press conference held with his British counterpart, William Hague, at the Iraqi FM building in Baghdad on Thursday “We agreed on forming a mutual ministerial committee between both countries to enhance the trade and economic cooperation besides cooperation in other sectors. Also we agreed to open a British Consulate in Baghdad to receive the visas applications for the Iraqis who wish to visit the UK.”
Zibari added “We discussed the developments in the region and the Syrian crisis and exchanged views about Iraq’s stance towards this crisis where we confirmed Iraq’s support for a peaceful transition process of the rule away from the foreign interferences,” he added “We conferred about the task of the UN envoy Al-Akhdhar al-Ibrahimi in this regard as well.”
“We reviewed the UK’s role in assisting Iraq to get rid of the international sanctions stated in the UN Charter’s Seventh Chapter which we intend to discuss in the next meetings of the UN General Assembly to be held by the end of the current month,” Zebari continued.
For his part, the UK FM reviewed the whole issues discussed with Zibari, saying that “We look forward to develop our cooperation with Iraq on all levels.”
Concerning the reports over discussing the case of the fugitive Vice President, Tariq al-Hashimi, Zibari confirmed that “We did not tackle this case since it is purely an Iraqi affair.”
Hague clarified that “Hashimi’s case is subject to the Judiciary’s appeal procedures and needs to be discussed with the Turkish side.”
In respect to the military interference in Syria, the Iraqi FM pointed out that “Both of the Iraqi and British sides agreed to support the peaceful transition of the authority that involves all the communities of the Syrian people.”
For his part, The UK FM assured that “We did not uphold the military interference alternative in resolving the Syrian crisis as we support the democratic change for the power in Syria.”
Hague expressed “The UK’s willingness to offer support to Iraq and Kuwait in their efforts to settle the pending issues effectively especially those related to the UN Sanctions imposed on Iraq,” emphasizing that “However, this topic remains subject to the two countries’ willingness to settle this file.”
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