Iraq’s Ambassador to EU meets Senior Expert to the Commissioner for International Partnerships in the European Commission

On 23 March 2021, Ambassador Sadiq Al-Rikabi, Head of the Iraq Mission to the EU met with Senior Expert in Cabinet of EU Commissioner for International Partnerships Ms. Lora Borissova at the European Commission headquarters.
At the outset of the meeting, Ms. Borissova welcomed Ambassador Al-Rikabi and stressed the importance of strengthening and deepening Iraqi-European relations, and indicated that the EU with all its institutions attaches special importance to the joint relations between the two sides, and praised the tangible progress in the implementation of the partnership and cooperation agreement between the two sides.
Mr. Al-Rikabi thanked Ms. Borissova for convening the meeting and handed her a copy of a letter addressed from the Iraqi Minister of Water Resources, Mr. Mahdi Rashid Al-Hamdani, to the Commissioner for International Partnerships, Mrs. Jutta Urpilainen, concerning strengthening the cooperation with the European Union in the field of water management, biodiversity and environmental protection, as well as activating the terms of the relevant partnership agreement.

Ambassador Al-Rikabi also presented a summary of the most important issues that Iraq faces in the field of water management, especially the issue of water scarcity due to the decrease in water flow of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and the negative impact on the agricultural and water sectors.

From her side, Ms. Broissova promised to convey the ideas and concerns of Mr. Al-Rikabi to her superiors at the EU to see what is possible for the EU could do in this regard in support of Iraq and indicated the possibility of holding more meetings to further discuss this issue.

At the end of the meeting, Ambassador Al-Rikabi thanked Mrs. Borissova for her cooperation and interest in activating this important file for both sides.