Committee discusses visas to Iraqis with EU, U.S.

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Iraqi parliament’s foreign relations committee demanded that the European Union (EU) countries, in addition to the U.S., issue visas to Iraqis through those countries’ embassies in Baghdad, not in the neighboring countries, a member of the committee said on Wednesday. “Contacts in this regard started months ago,” lawmaker Abdulbari Zebari told IraqiNews.com news agency. “Making Iraqis travel to neighboring countries to receive their visas is an unfair and very costy process,” he said. “Discussions with the EU countries have reached an advanced stages,” he added. He called on the Iraqi government to intervene to activate those discussions. “The Iraqi government knows about the discussions, but did nothing in this respect,” he noted. MH (P)/SR 1