Iraqi President Barham Salih started Tuesday a three-day visit to Britain, heading a high-level government delegation, including Foreign Minister Mohammed Ali Hakim and Health Minister Alaa al-Din al-Alwan.
According to a report published by the Dubai-based Foreign and Commonwealth Office Arabic Media Hub, the visit will include high-level meetings with British officials.
Among these officials are Prime Minister Theresa May, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Jeremy Hunt, Defense Secretary Penny Mordaunt, Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox, Secretary of State for International Development Rory Stewart and Queen Elizabeth II.
The visit, which included a dinner banquet hosted by Fox and Stewart, according to the report, aims at bolstering bilateral political and trade relations.
It also seeks to reaffirm their determination to continue working together to boost efforts in developing the Iraqi economy and achieving stability and prosperity in Iraq and the region as a whole, by ensuring the permanent defeat of ISIS.
Alyson King, spokesperson to the UK government for the Middle East and North Africa, expressed satisfaction with the visit.
“It comes at a time when Iraq has made a lot of encouraging progress with respect to stabilization, especially in achieving security and fighting corruption,” she said.
King stressed that the visit also affirms Britain’s continued commitment to its partnership with Iraq and its support for the efforts to achieve stability and prosperity that Iraqis deserve.
The importance Britain attaches to its relations with Iraq is clearly evident through the level of intensive meetings that Salih will be holding during his visit this week, King noted, especially with Queen Elizabeth on Thursday, she added.
Salih will visit the parliament, where he will hold talks and meetings with its speaker and a number of MPs.
He will deliver a speech in Chatham House and meet with Iraq Britain Business Council (IBBC).
An oil and gas conference will be held on the sidelines of the visit and will be attended by Iraq’s Oil Minister Thamer al-Ghadban and its foreign minister.
Salih’s visit follows that of Fox’s to Iraq in April, during which he announced that UK Export Finance will make an additional £1billion available to British firms operating in the country, bringing total support for Iraq to £2 billion.
