Minister of Foreign affairs and Vice President of the Republic of Iran discuss climate change in the region

On Sunday, May 29, 2022, Foreign affairs Minister Fouad Hussein discussed climate changes and environmental challenges facing Iraq and Iran.This came during his reception of the Iranian Vice President, the head of the Environmental Protection Organization, Mr. Ali Salajqa, and his accompanying delegation, at the headquarters of the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the presence of the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Muhammad Karim, the Minister of Water Resources, Mr. Mahdi Rashid, and the Minister of Environment, Mr. Jassem Al-Falahi.

The two sides also discussed the most important climatic challenges facing the region, such as dust, drought, desertification, and the decline of biodiversity, and ways to confront all of this, to reduce the effects of the phenomenon of climate change and provide a healthy environment suitable for humanity.

The Minister stressed that climatic changes are not attributed to a specific country, but rather cross borders, noting that the water file and its management between Iraq and Iran were also discussed during the discussions, adding: There will be visits and meetings between the two countries to discuss the water and shared rivers file. They stressed the need to continue and expand the dialogue to include other countries in the region, to find effective solutions to water issues and to advance the reality of water resources and their development in a manner that serves the interests of the two neighboring countries.

For his part, the Vice President of the Republic and Head of the Iranian Environmental Protection Organization, Mr. Ali Selajjah, said that today’s meeting is a good start for cooperation on the dust storm file, and an extended strategic opportunity to confront the challenges of dust storms and the repercussions of climate change, pointing out that several different files were discussed with the Iraqi side, adding that Iraq and Iran have experiences in the field of stabilizing the sand dunes, noting that we will witness cooperation soon in this regard, indicating that the Iranian Minister of Energy will visit Iraq to discuss the issue of rising dust.