Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi Visits the Headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Meets Its Diplomatic Staff Members

On 15 March 2021, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Fuad Hussein received Prime Minister H.E. Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, at the Ministry’s Headquarters, with a reception ceremony that was attended by the Undersecretaries of the Ministry, namely, H.E. Ambassador Nizar Al-Khairallah of Bilateral and Political Relations, H.E. Ambassador Qahtan Al-Janabi of Legal Affairs and Multilateral Relations, H.E. Ambassador Ahmed Barwari of Financial and Administrative Affairs and H.E. Ambassador Saleh Al-Tamimi of Political Planning Affairs. The meeting was also attended by heads of political departments at the ministry and their deputies.

Mr. Hussein gave an opening speech in which he indicated the most important characteristics of foreign policy at the current stage, stressing the importance of adopting dialogue, relying on initiatives leading to de-escalation and avoiding making Iraq an arena for conflicts. Minister Hussein also
indicated that openness in foreign policy comes at a stage that requires the Iraqi diplomacy to have an active presence and adopt initiatives. He concluded his speech by explaining that the Foreign Ministry has made it a priority to work towards supporting the Iraqi economy.

After that, H.E. Al-Kadhimi started his speech by thanking Mr. Huseein and the staff of the Ministry for the roles they play to enhance the presence of Iraq in regional and international arenas, stressing the importance of adopting a vision of balance and stability that Iraq aspires to achieve amongst all parties, pointing to the most important challenges that obstruct the implementation of foreign policy and the vital role that the diplomats must play in order to fulfill the missions of foreign policy.
Mr. Al-Kadhimi also listened to some remarks and question presented by fellow diplomats which focused mainly on the diplomatic role and the most important expected responses of diplomacy in the light of current developments in the political scenes.

At the end of the meeting, Mr. Al-Kadhimi called for more efforts and advancement in Iraq’s relations with its neighbors and partners, with the aim of restoring the pioneering role that Iraq is expected to have, through various diplomatic tools and mechanisms that serve the interests of Iraq and win its just causes. One of the most prominent tools to achieve the above is soft power and ways to adopt it to show the sources of the country’s strength in various International forums.