Iran, Iraq to establish three joint committees: Salehi

January 8, 2011 - 0:0

TEHRAN - Iranian Acting Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has announced that Iran and Iraq have agreed to establish three joint committees.

“In this visit, we frankly talked about issues… and subsequently made some decisions, like the establishment of a joint supreme economic committee, a joint political committee, and a supreme committee on border issues to examine the two countries’ border issues and problems,” Salehi told the IRNA news agency in an interview published on Friday.
It was agreed that these committees would be established by the two countries’ deputy foreign ministers, Salehi said.
During his two-day official visit to Iraq, which ended on Thursday, Salehi met with senior Iraqi officials, including President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, and Parliament Speaker Osama al-Najafi. He also met with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.
He went on to say that during his talks with Iraqi officials, the problems of Iranian pilgrims who visit Iraq were discussed and negotiations will continue until these problems are resolved.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Salehi said that hopefully, the relationship between Iran and Iraq will grow stronger in the near future because the two countries’ officials are determined to boost bilateral ties