IRAQ: Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem arrives Baghdad for two day visit to boost bilateral ties / meets Iraqi officials

Record ID: 276492

  • Title: IRAQ: Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem arrives Baghdad for two day visit to boost bilateral ties / meets Iraqi officials
  • Date: 26th March 2009
  • Summary: BAGHDAD, IRAQ (MARCH 25, 2009) (AGENCY POOL) VARIOUS OF SYRIAN FOREIGN MINISTER WALID AL-MOUALEM ARRIVING AT AIRPORT / BEING GREETED AL-MOUALEM WALKING TOWARD AIRPORT BUILDING AIRPORT BUILDING AL-MOUALEM GREETING IRAQ'S PRIME MINISTER NURI AL-MALIKI
  • Embargoed: 10th April 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVADZVSRDQNBG9B85EJL49IYVGCE
  • Story Text: Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem arrived Baghdad on Wednesday (March 25) in a visit aimed at boosting ties between the two countries.
    Upon his arrival al-Moualem met Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and delivered him a message from the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
    Moualem's first visit to Baghdad was in 2005, when he and Iraqi leaders signed several agreements to increase economic ties between the two countries.
    After his visit to Baghdad, the Syrian foreign minister is expected to travel to Doha, Qatar, for a ministerial meeting Sunday that precedes the Arab summit.
    Later on Wednesday, Moualem met Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and discussed a number of the bilateral issues regarding the co-operation between the two countries.
    Speaking at a joint news conference after the meeting with Zebari, Al-Moualem said that Syria is ready to help U.S. forces to pullout form Iraq if U.S. forces need to use the Syrian lands during the expected pullout by the end of 2011.
    "Syria is ready to offer the necessary help to support the decision of President Barack Obama to pullout from Iraq, but the United States does not ask Syria to use its territories for the withdrawal (of US forces)," al-Moualm told reporters .
    Asked about Iraqi-Syrian relations, Hoshyar Zebari said: "The Iraqi- Syrian relations have developed noticeably. It has been improved in comparison to the previous years due to the positive reaction of the Syrian government with the calls of the Iraqi (government) in order to support security and stability," he said.
    Diplomatic relations between Damascus and Baghdad were severed in 1980 when the countries were ruled by rival Baathist regimes and Syria backed Iran in its 1980-1988 war with Iraq.
    Relations started to improve in 2000 and the two nations decided in 2006 to resume formal ties, and Iraq's first ambassador for nearly 30 years arrived in Damascus in early February 2009 to start work.
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