Russia hails Iraqi government’s successes in combating terrorism

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Russian Duma (parliament) Speaker Boris Gryzlov on Friday said that Russia is ready to cooperate with Iraq in energy field, praising successes realized by the Iraqi government in combating terrorism. “The trade and economic cooperation level between Russia and Iraq is so low and there are great potentials too increase this cooperation,” Novosti news agency quoted Gryzlov during his meeting with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Moscow. The Russian official congratulated al-Maliki on the success of the recent local elections in the country. For his part, al-Maliki asserted Iraq’s keenness for a fruitful cooperation with Russian in various domains. On April 10, he will meet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for talks on a broad range of issues. The Iraqi Government’s official spokesman Ali ad-Dabbag reported that during this visit the prime minister will be accompanied by foreign, defense, and electric power industry ministers, as well as a delegation of the national oil ministry. AL-Maliki had arrived in Moscow on Thursday (April 9) on a three-day official visit in response to an invitation from his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. SH (S) 1