Abdul-Mahdi And Erdogan Heads The Joint Iraqi-Turkish Talks In Ankara

Baghdad, (NINA) -The Turkish-Turkish joint talks headed by Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were held in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Wednesday in the presence of the members of the two delegations. In his speech during the meeting, the Prime Minister blessed the Turkish people and the Muslim nation for the month of Ramadan. He stressed that ”the strength, well-being and progress of Turkey is strength, well-being and progress of Iraq. We thank you for the high reception. We await your arrival in Iraq to put our agreement in our productive bilateral meeting and we can go ahead during the Iraqi-Turkish Joint Council in Baghdad. He added: "We can in the spirit of cooperation and common desire to reach greater understandings for our interests and our common future, and we aspire to establish joint investment projects for the two countries that contribute to strengthening the economy and investments in agricultural and industrial fields and providing extensive employment opportunities and work on the construction of a railway line from Basra to Turkey, calling to put hand in hand to confront terrorism, pointing to the quest to form a joint team in this regard, stressed the need to resolve issues in Bashiqa area and others. He stressed that "We want Iraq to be a meeting place after taking its place in the countries of the region and strengthening its role in its environment. And our common interests require meeting with leaders of countries, coordination and understanding and establishing good relations with all. On the subject of water, Abdul-Mahdi stressed the importance of reaching agreements for the benefit of both countries and the region, praising the step of naming a specialized representative for the Turkish president with a team of 50 experts for cooperation in the field of water with Iraq. He also thanked Turkey for hosting large numbers of Iraqi community, and supporting tourism between the two countries, and praised the Turkish treatment of a number of wounded Iraqi forces. He stressed the need to form a team from both sides to follow-up to complete what have been researched and agreed upon. The Turkish president said: "I greet you with love and respect, and you are dear guests in our country. We are following deeply and comfortably the steps of the government for the benefit of the Iraqi people. Offering congratulations on the victory of the Iraqis against Daesh and their martyrs and wounded. . The Turkish president referred to the contents of his talks with the Prime Minister on cooperation in the fight against terrorism, the activities of terrorist organizations, economic and energy fields, education and reconstruction of Iraq, the contribution of Turkish companies in this field and the agreement to hold the Joint Supreme Strategic Council in Baghdad. Expressing his satisfaction with the development of relations with Iraq and the increase in the volume of trade exchange to 15 billion dollars than it was a year ago and the aspiration to reach 20 billion dollars.. President Erdogan stressed Turkey's readiness to activate and reform the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, purchase Iraqi oil and cooperate in the field of water, borders and customs, pointing out that his special representative is to cooperate and solve problems related to water and build the necessary dams and use them to generate electricity. He called for cooperation in military and security fields, in this direction, and cooperation in the areas of defense industries, and the Turkish president said that the working talks will address a number of areas, including the region of Bashiqa. Earlier, members of the Iraqi delegation held a series of bilateral meetings with their counterparts in the Turkish side, during which they discussed expanding cooperation in security, economic, energy, transportation, communications and investment fields./ End