The Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Welcomes the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and the High Representative of the Alliance of Civilizations

On Thursday 8/12/2022, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of foreign affairs Fuad Hussein welcomes the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and the High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations, Mr. Miguel Mortanius.

At the outset of the meeting, the Minister welcomed the visit of the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations to Iraq, and his participation in the Forum of Ancient Civilizations, which was held in Baghdad on 12/4/2022.

The Minister stressed the importance of the relationship between Iraq and the United Nations, and that the presence of the United Nations and its specialized agencies and its various activities is of great importance in providing support and technical assistance to national institutions, especially in the field of capacity building and reconstruction of areas liberated from ISIS, and that the Iraqi government has placed it among its priorities Reconstruction, social peace and reintegration, as well as the reconstruction of archaeological and cultural sites and places of worship that were destroyed by ISIS, adding that ISIS committed their crimes against all components of the Iraqi people and all their religions and sects.

The two sides stressed the need for solidarity and cooperation in the issue of restoring social cohesion between the components and local communities, especially in the city of Sinjar, the Nineveh Plain and other areas, and providing a suitable environment for the return of the Yazidis and the people of the Christian religion, and working on the reconstruction of their places of worship.

For his part, Mr. Miguel Mortanius expressed his thanks for the efforts made by the Iraqi government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to prepare and hold the sixth ministerial meeting of the Forum of Ancient Civilizations in Baghdad, offering congratulations to Iraq on the success of the conference and the adoption of the Baghdad Declaration, which represents an added value to the efforts aimed at the dialogue of civilizations and cultures and the convergence between peoples. And the nations, adding that his visit to Iraq is very important and positive from multiple sides, and the representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations had held many meetings with leaders and representatives of religious communities in Iraq, indicating that he had visited the holy city of Najaf and had an important and successful meeting with the religious authority, Ayatollah Mr. Ali al-Sistani, and they exchanged conversations about the importance of coexistence between religions and sects, rejecting extremist ideology and hate speech, spreading a culture of tolerance and spreading the message of peace in the world, which is part of the action plan drawn up by the United Nations on protecting religious sites and temples.

Confirmed the continuation of the United Nations and its desire to provide the necessary support and advice to Iraq in various fields, according to the priorities set by the Iraqi government.

In conclusion, the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations stressed the importance of sending a team of experts from the United Nations and international organizations to visit the heritage and religious places in Sinjar to record the damages and help in their reconstruction to confirm the contribution of the international community and its role in this field, and the two sides agreed on the importance of continuing coordination and exchanging visits to achieve this. Objectives.