Iraq’s President discusses bilateral relations with Egyptian Foreign Minister:

SULAIMANIYA / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has conferred in Sulaimaniya city on Sunday with visiting Egyptian Foreign Minister, Ahmed Abul-Gheit, on bilateral relations between Iraq and Egypt and means to boost them, according to a media source, the Egyptian delegation, accompanying Abul-Gheit. “President Talabani has discussed during his meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister, Ahmed Abul-Gheit and his accompanying delegation, in Sulaimaniya, the bilateral relations between both countries, and President Talabani had expressed satisfaction for Egypt‘s position towards Iraq and its continuous support for Iraq in all occasions, being a noble position, kept in the memory of all Iraqis,” the source told IraqiNews.com news agency. The Iraqi President, according to the source, “had said that Egypt‘s position over the past months had crowned its support for its sisterly Iraq, and the current visit by the Egyptian Delegation has had its high intentions; and we do hope that it would strengthen the relations between the two sisterly countries and leads to boosting the strategic relations between them, as well as activising the joint agreements concluded between Iraq and Egypt.” Minister Abul-Gheit, on his part, described the formation of the new Iraqi government that “it had expressed, in a contemporary, wise and patient image, to get Iraq out of the tunnel,” reiterating “Egypt‘s wish to build strong relations with Iraq.” He pointed out to the “important stations in the said course, among which was the opening of an Egyptian Consulate in Arbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan and selecting a venue for a consulate in Basra, in prelude for its opening, along with the expansion of the Egyptian Embassy in Baghdad, as well as the encouragement of Egypt‘s largest companies and leading merchants to invest in Iraq, and share in implementing reconstruction projects in the country.” MR (A) / SKH 64