Foreign Minister Receives his Pakistani Counterpart in Baghdad

On May 29, 2021, Foreign Minister, H.E. Mr. Fuad Hussein received his Pakistani counterpart, H.E. Mr. Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, at the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters.

During the meeting, both sides discussed ways to strengthen and develop bilateral relations between the countries in a way that promotes their common interest, including the economic aspect, in a way that achieves the common interest of the two friendly countries.
The Minister stated that Pakistan is a fundamental and important partner of Iraq, and the two countries are linked by long-standing relations and common factors, including: countering terrorism and extremism. He stressed the need for bilateral cooperation in all fields to serve the interests of the two friendly peoples.
On the other hand, the two sides stressed the need to activate joint Iraqi-Pakistani committee, and to expedite the completion of agreements and memoranda of understanding between the two countries.
The two sides also discussed the process of exporting Iraqi oil to Pakistan, the issue of religious tourism and ways to facilitate granting entry visas to Pakistani visitors wishing to visit the holy shrines in Iraq, due to their great importance to Muslims in the world. They also touched upon the activation of direct flights from Baghdad to Islamabad and vice versa as well as activation of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

For his part, Mr. Qureshi expressed his country’s aspiration for more joint cooperation with Iraq in all fields, the most important of which is cooperation in the field of combating terrorism and religious tourism. He added that Iraq is currently hosting 200,000 Pakistani visitors, and they look forward to facilitating the procedures for obtaining entry visas to Iraq for religious tourism, stressing that his country supports Iraq in all fields.