[ad_1]
Al-Jazeera Net correspondents
Baghdad– The Iraqi Prime Minister, Muhammad Shia’a Al-Sudani, concluded yesterday, Tuesday, an official visit to Egypt that lasted for two days. The media office of Al-Sudani said in a statement published by the Iraqi News Agency (INA) that the visit included many agendas, including a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, Sheikh Al-Azhar Ahmed Al-Tayeb and Al-Amin. General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit at the university’s headquarters, as well as the Sudanese meeting with the Iraqi community at the headquarters of the Baghdad embassy in Cairo.
The visit also witnessed the holding of the work of the Joint Higher Committee between Iraq and Egypt, headed by Al-Sudani and his Egyptian counterpart, and the signing of several memorandums of understanding in various fields, then the holding of the activities of the Iraqi-Egyptian Business Forum in the presence of many Iraqi and Egyptian businessmen.
most important agenda
In the context, the political advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister, Fadi Al-Shammari, said that Al-Sudani’s visit to Cairo took place based on a prior agreement between the two countries, and that the Iraqi delegation included the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Planning, Trade, Construction, Housing and Electricity, in addition to the Chairman of the National Investment Authority, the Governor of the Central Bank and the Chairman of the Service Council. Federal, and a number of officials and businessmen.
Al-Shammari added that the visit came to activate the work of the Iraqi-Egyptian Joint Higher Committee, review the final version of the minutes of the Supreme Committee’s meetings, and organize memorandums of understanding signed by the prime ministers of the two countries.
And on the most important outputs, Al-Shammari revealed – in a special statement to Al-Jazeera Net – that the visit witnessed the signing of 11 memorandums of understanding between the two countries, and included various fields, such as diplomatic training and exchange of experiences, tourism and culture, promotion of small and medium enterprises, accession to the World Trade Organization, and the development of government administration. , youth, sports, housing, reconstruction and promotion of work and social affairs.
Regarding investment opportunities between the two countries, Al-Shammari explained that Al-Sudani’s visit to Cairo was marked by his keenness to strengthen economic relations and enhance cooperation between the Iraqi private sector and its Egyptian counterpart, noting that Iraq had invited Egyptian companies to participate in the reconstruction campaign that the Iraqi Prime Minister will announce, by allocating a budget. Especially for reconstruction and services over the next three years.
Economic dimension
This information is consistent with the statements of the Director General of the Investments Department in the Iraqi Ministry of Industry, Adel Ahmed Shabib, who confirmed in an official interview that the Iraqi Ministry of Industry and Minerals has common relations with the Egyptian side in various fields, including a cooperation protocol and memorandums of understanding signed between the two sides since 2020.
Shabib added that the Iraqi delegation provided the Egyptian side with an initial database of Iraqi industries and available investment opportunities, and that the Egyptian side is now preparing studies to establish factories in Iraq, he said.
For his part, Iraqi expert and politician Nabil Jabbar Al-Ali says that Al-Sudani’s visit to Cairo is the second after Al-Sudani visited Cairo last March, which reflects the Iraqi side’s keenness to strengthen relations and cooperation with Egypt in the economic and political fields.
With regard to the economic aspect, Al-Ali adds – in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net – that the meetings of the Iraqi-Egyptian Higher Committee that were held between the two sides in Cairo resulted in the signing of several memorandums of understanding, reflecting an Iraqi goal represented in attracting companies accredited by the Egyptian government to involve them in the reconstruction campaign that Al-Sudani is working on implementing it in Iraq.
Regarding the memorandums of understanding signed between the two countries and the possibility of their development into agreements and application on the ground, economic expert Anmar Al-Obeidi believes that the relationship between Baghdad and Cairo has not developed significantly except in the last two years, indicating that Cairo has begun to actually study the possibility of entering the Iraqi market, especially since the volume of Egyptian investments In Iraq, it is almost negligible, according to him.
Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, Al-Obeidi explained that the memorandums of understanding between the two countries come as a first stage, through which Cairo is trying to see the Iraqi market and the possibility of private Egyptian companies entering the Iraqi economy, indicating that the development of these memorandums into agreements and projects on the ground still needs more efforts. Iraq to win the confidence of investors, especially since the country has witnessed in the last two years political crises that almost led the country to civil war, which makes investors wary of investing millions of dollars in Iraq, waiting for what the coming months will explain about whether political stability will continue or not, as he put it.
The political dimension
Politically, and whether the visit was also intended to mediate between Tehran and Cairo, Nabil Jabbar al-Ali does not rule out that al-Sudani carried special messages from Tehran to Cairo, in light of the Iraqi efforts to mediate between the two countries.
Returning to the political advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister Fadi Al-Shammari and his comment on this information, it seems that Iraq is still working on this mediation effectively, as Al-Shammari comments by saying, “Iraq plays an active and influential role in the regional region, and seeks to enhance stability and regional cooperation, and strengthen bilateral relations with Neighboring countries and the international community in general, and considers Iraq a partner keen on peace and security in the region, and works to promote understanding and resolve disputes by peaceful means, “without giving further details.
And press reports revealed last March that two meetings were held – which were confidential – in Baghdad between officials from Egypt and Iran, sponsored and supervised by the private office of the Iraqi Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein, in a repeat of the Iraqi mediation experience between Tehran and Riyadh, where mediation efforts are still ongoing. Iraq between Egypt and Iran continues without achieving a real breakthrough until the moment.
A high-ranking political source in the capital, Baghdad, revealed – to Al-Jazeera Net – that the agenda of Al-Sudani’s visit to Cairo aims on the political side for the continuation of Iraqi mediation between Iran and Egypt, especially since the meetings of officials of the two countries in Baghdad took place last March through security delegations and with weak diplomatic representation, indicating These two meetings – although they were positive – did not result in resolving all the points of contention, especially since the two delegations discussed various regional issues in Yemen, Syria and Lebanon and the Iranian influence in these countries.
The source – who preferred to remain anonymous – confirmed that it was agreed to hold another meeting during the next two months in Baghdad with Iraq seeking to raise the level of representation of the delegations of Iran and Egypt, in an Iraqi attempt to record a breakthrough point that may lead to the return of diplomatic relations between the two parties, which will be beneficial. Iraq, economically and politically, and strengthening the efforts of the Sudanese government in its endeavor to reposition Iraq regionally, in light of the regional and international approval enjoyed by the current government, according to the source.
[ad_2]
Source link