The new Prime Minister of Iraq, Mustafa al-Kazemi, invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit Baghdad, the service of the head of the Iraqi government reports following the meeting of al-Kazemi with Russian Ambassador Maxim Maksimov.
It is noted that the Ambassador gave the Prime Minister a written message of congratulations from Putin and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, which included an invitation to visit Moscow, as well as "support for Iraq in the UN Security Council".
"I will be happy to visit Moscow," the Iraqi Prime Minister was quoted as saying by his press service. He also noted that Iraq hopes for Russia's participation in stabilizing the situation in the region.
"The Prime Minister said that Iraq values strong relations with Russia and hopes to strengthen them in the political, economic, cultural and security spheres, and invited the Russian President to visit Baghdad," the press service reported.
On the night of May 7, the Iraqi Parliament approved the composition of the Cabinet proposed by al-Kazemi.
At the same time, voting on candidates for the post of Oil and Foreign Ministers was postponed. The Parliament also rejected the candidacies of the Ministers of Trade, Justice, Culture, Agriculture and the Minister of Migration.
The second Deputy speaker of the Parliament, Bashir al-Haddad, said that al-Kazemi will present candidates for vacant positions in the government by the end of May, after which the Parliament will set a date for a meeting to pass a vote of confidence.
The former head of Iraq's national intelligence, Mustafa al-Kazemi, became the third candidate for the post of Prime Minister after the resignation of the previous head of government, Adel Abd al-Mahdi, and the first to complete the mission assigned to him to form the Cabinet.
Abd al-Mahdi resigned on November 30 last year amid a wave of protests that swept the country in October and became the largest since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
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Photo: The Media Office of the Prime Minister of Iraq / Creative Commons