Damascus, 24 December 2021 (TDI): Iraqi Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nizar Al-Khairallah, met the Foreign Minister of Syria. During the meeting, both officials discussed prospects of cooperation and bilateral relations.
Therefore, the two brotherly countries plan to extend cooperation in the economic and commercial fields. Since both nations are neighbors, they plan to rearrange the border crossings between the two countries. Moreover, the possibility of granting entry visas for Iraqis for the purpose of tourism and medical treatment in Syria.
Osama Mahdi Ghanem, head of the Arab Department, Yassin Sharif Al-Huchaimi, the Chargé d’Affaires of the Republic of Iraq in Damascus, and from the Syrian side, Bashar Al-Jaafari, Deputy Minister, and a number of heads of Departments have attended the meeting.
Bilateral cooperation: Migration, Security and Political aspects
Relations are marked by long-shared cultural, security, and political links. In that sense, they also discussed security cooperation and border control. Both nations are committed to eliminating armed terrorist groups that affect regional security.
On the other hand, the countries share a large population of refugees and asylum seekers. The total amount of this population in Syria is 45,418. This includes 18,817 refugees mostly residing in Damascus and in Al-Hasakeh Governorates who are predominantly from Iraq. Some 18,664 asylum-seekers, mostly residing in urban Qamishli; and 7,879 Iraqi asylum seekers located in three camps (Newroz, Roj, and Al-Hol) in Al-Hasakeh governorate.
Furthermore, the cultural cooperation seeks to be expanded by exchanging visits in various sectoral ministries to serve the interests of the two brotherly peoples.
On the political side, both governments agreed on strengthening cooperation and ties in the next years. Likewise, Iraq expressed its great welcoming on the Astana Peace Process recent talks. In this meeting, Foreign Ministers and officials from Syria, Russia, Iran, Turkey, among others, proposed political solutions to end the war without military resources.
