Labor minister denies any hiring agreement, says it's an exchange of expertise

Labor Minister Mohammad Haidar said Sunday that the memorandum signed between Lebanon and Iraq is about exchanging expertise and training, not workforce recruitment, denouncing what he called "erroneous interpretations."

The minister aimed to clarify his statements following his official visit to Baghdad, as some media outlets had claimed it was a worker exchange agreement between the two countries. He specified that the agreement reached with his Iraqi counterpart, Ahmad al-Assadi, concerns "training and the transfer of expertise." Lebanon will highlight its know-how in the fields of services, tourism and hospitality, while Iraq — a founding member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and a key global player — will share its experience in oil and gas exploitation.

"We are talking about training and exchange of expertise, not workforce recruitment," Haidar insisted, rejecting what he called "disinformation campaigns," which he said harm Lebanese-Iraqi relations.

The Lebanese minister stressed that this cooperation aims to "strengthen the complementarity between the expertise of our two countries, so that each side benefits from what distinguishes the other." Haidar added that "benefiting from Iraq's expertise in this area is a major gain for Lebanese youth, who will be able to train with Iraqi experts and acquire the necessary know-how Lebanon will need in the future to exploit its natural resources."

Haidar had said on Friday that he discussed with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani the issue of transporting oil from Iraq to Lebanon, with a view to accelerating the installation of pipelines to the Tripoli refinery, which "will help create many job opportunities for Lebanese workers and facilitate investors' activities." He specified that "a Lebanese-Iraqi-Syrian commission will be set up to follow up on this matter." Reuters previously reported that the Iraqi oil ministry is considering exporting crude oil via the Lebanese port of Tripoli.