Iraq, Italy discuss security cooperation

BAGHDAD

Iraq and Italy have discussed bilateral relations and security cooperation, the Iraqi government said in a statement on Thursday.

The statement came after talks between Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi and Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, who is on an official visit to the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

The discussions dwelt on ways of boosting “cooperation in political and economic fields and in the war on terrorism,” the statement said.

The talks also tackled the development of relations in the security field, and “the training of Iraqi forces under the framework of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), especially with the transition of the relationship with the international coalition to a non-combat role," it added.

Italy is a member of the US-led coalition that has been fighting the Daesh/ISIS terror group since 2014, which at the time held control of almost one-third of Iraq’s territory.

The Iraqi army, with the help of the international coalition, was able to defeat the terrorist group in 2017. Italy earlier Thursday announced the end of its combat mission in Iraq.

On July 26, Baghdad and Washington agreed in the fourth and final round of their strategic dialogue to withdraw US forces from Iraq by the end of 2021.

Iraqi political forces and armed factions, close to Iran, pressed for the withdrawal of all foreign forces, especially the American troops, from Iraq.
*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar