Russian Foreign Ministry's statement on Lavrov's visit to Iraq

MOSCOW, May 12 (Itar-Tass) -- Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made a
working visit to the Republic of Iraq on May 10. He had meetings with Iraq'
s Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, to whom he delivered a written message from
President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev; with President of the
Republic of Iraq Jalal Talabani, with Speaker of the House of
Representatives (Parliament) of Iraq Osama Nujaifi, with Minister of
Foreign Affairs Hoshyar Zebari and with leader of the Iraqi List political
bloc Iyad Allawi.
The representatives of the Iraqi leadership declared that Baghdad is
firmly committed to the all-round development of political dialogue and
mutually beneficial cooperation with Russia in all fields without
exception. They noted their interest in the build-up of Russian assistance
in ensuring the stability of the region and in dealing with the hotbeds of
tension by political and diplomatic means, the Foreign Ministry said in a
statement on Wednesday, May 11.
During the conversations the Russian side expressed support to the
strengthening of the unity and sovereignty of Iraq and to efforts being
undertaken by the Iraqi leadership to stabilise the situation in the
country, put an end to terrorism and improve the socio-economic position
of the population.
It was emphasised that an important task in Iraq remains the
achievement of national reconciliation, primarily through ensuring the
real participation in power of the representatives of major political
groups and ethno-confessional communities in the country, as well as by
fostering an all-embracing dialogue on the issues of the national agenda
in the interests of all Iraqis.
A round of foreign policy consultations was held with Foreign Minister
Zebari, resulting in a thorough exchange of views on current aspects of
the situation in the Middle East, the Persian Gulf and North Africa, as
well as the Arab-Israeli peace process. In discussing conditions in a
number of Arab countries, both parties reaffirmed the unacceptability of
the use of military force against civilians and pointed to the necessity
to tackle acute domestic political problems without outside interference,
by peaceful means, through a national dialogue aimed at achieving public
consensus regarding the search for ways out of crisis situations and the
implementation of overdue reforms.
During the meeting the parties reiterated their mutual striving to
expand and deepen Russian-Iraqi ties in different fields, including the
intensification of political contacts at various levels, more specifically
those between the parliaments and foreign ministries.
The two parties also took stock of the status of matters pertaining to
cooperation in the oil and gas, electric power and military-technical
spheres as well as in the training of Iraqi personnel. They noted the
serious prospects available for collaboration in agricultural, transport,
water management and other strategically important development projects of
Iraq. The parties arranged to accelerate the preparation and conduct of
the next meeting of the Intergovernmental Russian-Iraqi Commission on
Trade, Economic and Scientific-Technical Cooperation.