SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Italian foreign minister Luigi Di Maio met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and President Barham Salih in Baghdad on Thursday.
Di Maio discussed bilateral relations and the war against terrorism with the senior Iraqi officials, according to the Iraqi presidency and Kadhimi’s press office.
The Iraqi president stressed the need to “exert maximum efforts to defuse crises in the region and support dialogue to resolve the existing differences”, Salih’s office said in a tweet.
“A secure and stable Iraq with full sovereignty is an indispensable element for the security and stability of the entire region,” Salih was cited as saying.
Separately, Kadhimi and Di Maio discussed cultural cooperation within the framework of UNESCO and through communication with Italian universities and institutions.
The Italian minister is scheduled to meet Italian troops in Baghdad ahead of his visit to the Kurdistan Region, where he will meet President Nechirvan Barzani and his country’s soldiers.
He is expected to discuss the latest developments in the region, the fight against Islamic State (ISIS) as well as the formation of a new government with Barzani, he added.
