Head of the Iraqi Defense Ministry Juma Inad plans to visit Russia soon. This was announced on Wednesday by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov after talks with Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein.
"The visit of the Iraqi Defense Minister to Russia is planned in the foreseeable future," he said.
Military products
Russia is ready to meet any needs of Iraq in military products of Russian manufacture, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia.
"We are ready to meet any needs of Iraq in Russian military products," he said. - "The visit of the Iraqi Defense Minister to Russia is planned in the foreseeable future, I'm sure that these issues will be discussed there in a very concrete and substantive manner".
Lavrov also noted that Russia has "traditionally played and continues to play a significant role in Iraq's defense capabilities and equipping the army and security forces, including in the context of remaining terrorist threats".
According to the head of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, issues of military and technical cooperation (MTC) were discussed during the meeting. "Of course, we briefly touched upon some issues of the MTC, but more detailed consideration will take place during the upcoming visit of the Iraqi Defense Minister to Russia and his meeting with his Russian counterpart," Hussein said.
Investments in Iraqi economy
Large Russian oil companies have already invested more than $13 billion in the Iraqi economy, said Sergey Lavrov.
"The largest energy companies work in Iraq together with their partners. These are Lukoil, Rosneft, Gazpromneft and Bashneft. All four of them have invested more than $13 billion in the Iraqi economy," he said.
Lavrov noted that Russian and Iraqi businessmen plan to continue this cooperation.
As First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy Yuri Fedorov reported earlier at the meeting with Iraqi Ambassador to Russia Abdel Rahman Hamid Al-Husseini, total investments of Russian oil and gas companies in Iraq may increase three times. According to him, Russian companies "Zarubezhneft", "Tatneft" and "Rosneftegaz" are also interested in cooperation with Iraqi partners.
Syrian settlement
Baghdad is interested in participating in international efforts to resolve the situation in Syria, said Sergey Lavrov.
"Our Iraqi friends confirmed their interest in participating in international efforts to facilitate the Syrian settlement," he said.
According to Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Ministry appreciated the participation of Iraq, along with a number of other Arab countries, in the recent conference held in Damascus to help solve the Syrian refugee problem.
"We are actively cooperating in international efforts to eliminate the remnants of international terrorist gangs, including in Syria and Iraq. In this regard, I would like to note the successful work of the information center established to coordinate approaches in the fight against terrorism in Baghdad with the participation of military specialists from Iraq, Russia, Syria and Iran," the Russian Foreign Minister added.
Moscow and Baghdad advocate respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Syria, the lifting of unilateral Western sanctions, ending the foreign occupation of its territory, and emphasize the inadmissibility of politicization of humanitarian issues.
The previous high-level meeting on Syria in Astana format was held in the capital of Kazakhstan on December 10-11, 2019. It was attended by delegations of the Syrian government and the Syrian armed opposition. Representatives of the UN, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon attended the meeting as observers. The next meeting in the Astana format was previously scheduled for March, but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Students from Iraq
Moscow will take measures to ensure that international students, including almost 4,000 Iraqi citizens, return to full-time study in Russian universities as soon as possible.
"Today it was said that almost 4,000 Iraqi students are studying in Russia," Lavrov said. - "We will take steps to ensure that Iraqi [citizens] and non-Iraqi citizens who are studying in our universities are able to return to full education as soon as possible in the context of the measures we are taking to overcome the effects of the coronavirus infection," Lavrov said.
On November 17, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation Valery Falkov stated at the meeting of the Council of the Russian Union of Rectors that Russian Universities are not currently ready to accept foreign students because of the epidemic situation.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS