BAGHDAD (AFP) -– French President Nicolas Sarkozy made a surprise visit to Baghdad on Tuesday, the first ever trip to Iraq by a French head of state.

Sarkozy was welcomed by his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani and a guard of honor, pictures broadcast on state television showed.
“The French president is in Iraq to praise its efforts,” said a French official traveling with Sarkozy. “France supports its democracy, its progressing sovereignty, national reconciliation and rebuilding.”
The French leader, who will also meet Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, is on a regional tour that will also take him to Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.
“It is the first visit to the country by a French president,” the French embassy said.
The visit by the French delegation -- which includes Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner -- comes 10 days after Iraq held provincial elections which saw Maliki's allies triumph.
The largely violence-free polls were hailed by U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders as a sign of progress in Iraq, amid a steadily improving security situation in the past year.
The French foreign ministry said the polls marked “a strengthening of dialogue and democracy.”