Mikati meets with Iraqi prime minister, president on official visit to the country

Caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati met Sunday with Iraq's prime minister and president, having arrived in the county for an official visit at the invitation of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Soudani, the Grand Serail reported.

Mikati was received at Baghdad International Airport by Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani. In a message posted on the social network X, the Grand Serail stated that Mikati was received by Soudani at his office on Sunday morning.

The caretaker prime minister is traveling with a delegation that includes Industry Minister George Bouchikian, Agriculture Minister Abbas Hajj Hassan, Public Works and Transport Minister Ali Hamieh, Energy and Water Minister Walid Fayad, Lebanon's Ambassador to Iraq Ali Habbab, the president of the Investment Promotion Agency in Lebanon (IDAL), Mazen Soueid, and the deputy director-general of State Security, Brig. Gen. Hassan Choucair.

Extended talks are scheduled with a number of Iraqi ministers and officials.

Reference to the Manama summit

In a message posted the X network later on Sunday, the Grand Serail announced that Mikati and the Iraqi prime minister had met to discuss "relations between the two countries, ways of developing them and strengthening economic partnerships, as well as the bilateral agreement on the supply of Iraqi oil to Lebanon."

Mikati also held talks with Iraqi President Abdel Latif Rachid, who received him at the presidential palace in Baghdad, according to another press release. The two men "reviewed developments on the Arab and international scenes and ways of strengthening friendly relations and joint cooperation in the interests of the two brotherly peoples," according to the statement.

‘Today's world is witnessing rapid changes and events that [force us] to find a formula for cooperation and common understanding between all the countries in the region to face these challenges," the Iraqi president said. He also highlighted the "security stability and the process of construction and reconstruction" in his country, which has gone through a particularly turbulent period since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

For his part, Mikati praised "the Iraqi president's stance during the recent summit in Bahrain in favor of Lebanon," explaining that "what links the two brotherly countries is more important than what links Lebanon to any other country." He was referring to the 33rd Arab League summit in Manama, during which the organization called for an international conference to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has been spilling over into south Lebanon since October 2023, reiterated its support for the two-state solution and expressed its solidarity with Lebanon.

Mikati also officially invited the president of Iraq to visit Lebanon.

During the summer of 2021, Beirut and Baghdad signed an agreement enabling Electricité du Liban to obtain fuel supplies on terms presented as adapted to the financial problems of the public institution, which could no longer rely on advances from the Treasury to supply its power plants. This agreement, the details of which are very vague, was extended and a protocol was signed a year ago to increase the quantities involved.

In June, Lebanon's energy minister indicated in an interview with the al-Hurra channel that a meeting had been held between Mikati and the Iraqi Investment Authority to discuss the relaunch of a pipeline project linking the two countries with the aim of sending Iraqi oil to European markets.

Lebanon's caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi also arrived in Baghdad on Sunday to take part in the "second Baghdad international conference on the fight against narcotics" at the invitation of his Iraqi counterpart, Gen. Abdul Amir al-Shammari. Mawlawi will hold a series of meetings with officials from Iraq and other countries in the region to discuss issues of common interest.

This article was originally published in French on L'Orient-Le Jour.

Nagib Mikati entame une visite officielle en Irak