Iraqi foreign minister meets Lebanese president in Beirut

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari started on Tuesday an official three-day visit to Lebanon and met with its President Michel Aoun.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed bilateral relations as well as means of boosting them in all fields.

Al-Jaafari is expected to convene with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Saad Hariri as well as a host of political and executive figures.

The top Iraqi diplomat wrapped up on Monday a visit to Syria, during which he met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem.

During the meeting, the Syrian president stressed the importance of upgrading and consolidating the Syrian-Iraqi historic relations, particularly at the two peoples’ level.

He further stressed that recent victories over terrorism in Iraq and Syria would not be achieved without high-level coordination between the two countries.

Moualem, for his part, expressed hope that Albu Kamal border crossing with Iraq would open as soon as possible.

“We look to the interests of both the Syrian and Iraqi people in opening the Albu Kamal crossing,” Moualem told reporters at a joint conference with his Iraqi counterpart Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

Syrian forces took control of the border city of Albu Kamal southeast of Deir ez-Zor after expelling the Islamic State militants in October last year.