Iraqi president hails Rouhani’s important visit to Baghdad

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Iraqi President Barham Salih has hailed as “important” a visit currently paid by his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani to Baghdad.

“My talks with President Rouhani focused on the importance of boosting trade relations between the two countries,” Salih said at a joint press conference with the Iranian president.

Salih further thanked Tehran for its support of Baghdad in the war against terrorism, saying that the eradication of extremism and establishment of security in Iraq and the neighboring countries “require more cooperation and efforts among the region’s countries.”

“It is time for the region to witness an economic boom through joint cooperation,” Salih said.

“We do not want Iraq to be an arena for regional or international conflicts,” he said. “Today, we will unveil important agreements with Iran that will serve the interests of both the Iraqi and Iranian peoples and the region.”

For his part, Rouhani said: “We will not sever relations with Iraq and want to develop them more.”

He added that his talks with Salih “saw no point of disagreement between the two countries.”

“There are broad areas for cooperation between the two countries,” he said, expressing his country’s pleasure in standing with the army and people of Iraq in the fight against terrorism.