BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraq's government said on Thursday that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is due in Baghdad on March 2 for the first visit ever by an Iranian president to the neighbouring country.
The announcement came shortly after Iraqi and US officials said that Tehran had asked for a delay in talks expected this week in Baghdad between the United States and Iran on the future of Iraq.
The announcement came shortly after Iraqi and US officials said that Tehran had asked for a delay in talks expected this week in Baghdad between the United States and Iran on the future of Iraq.
"The Iranian president will be visiting for two days from March 2. He will be meeting with President Jalal Talabani and with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told AFP, adding that discussions would revolve around "bilateral issues."
"He will be accompanied by a number of ministers," Dabbagh said, refusing to be drawn on what else was on the itinerary "for security reasons."
Ahmadinejad's visit would be the first by an Iranian president to Iraq since the creation of the Islamic republic after the 1979 revolution which ousted the shah.
Iran and Iraq fought a devastating war between 1980 and 1988 in which around one million people died.
But the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime in 2003 led to a marked improvement in relations with the new Shiite-dominated government in Iraq.
Anytime a leader from a country visits another country it is important.
1 comment:
They must be dancing in streets of Bagdad.
Stay on groovin' safari,
Tor
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