Iranian FM in Iraq by Plane for Landmark VisitIranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi flew Baghdad on Friday morning, becoming the first Iranian minister to visit Iraq by plane since 1980.The Iran Air passenger plane touched down at the Saddam International Airport at 10:10 (0710 GMT). Kharrazi and his delegation were greeted by Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammad Said Al-Sahaf. In a short statement to the media at the airport, Kharrazi said his visit was aimed at trying to solve the remaining problems between the two neighbors. He expressed hope that the visit could serve to promote "mutual trust and good neighborhood" with Iraq. The visit followed an agreement reached by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami and Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan in Caracas, the capital of Venezuel, to continue bilateral talks, he said. For his part, Sahaf said Kharrazi's visit was "very important," expressing the belief that now the two countries could work seriously for settlement of the remaining problems, as "there are good intentions and political will from both sides." Both they did not answer questions from the reporters. During his two-day visit, Kharrazi is expected to meet Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and other senior officials to try to settle all the remaining problems resulted from the 1980-1988 bloody war between the two countries. Twelve years after the ending of the war, the two neighbors have not yet normalized their relations, which have been greatly hampered by the issues such as the prisoners of war and opposition armed groups in both countries. Nevertheless, bilateral relations between the two countries have showed signs of improvement in recent days. A major breakthrough came on September 29, when Iranian President Mohammad Khatami met with Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan in Caracas on the sidelines of the summit meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The meeting has been regarded as the highest level of contact between the two sides in nine years. The meeting was followed by the visit to Tehran by Iraqi Minister of Transport and Communications Ahmad Murtadha Ahmad Khalil earlier this month. During his talks with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Hojjati, Khalil tried to seek Iran's green light to planes flying to Iraq through its airspace. Thanks to the visit, a Boeing 777 passenger plane from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) made a direct flight from Abu Dhabi, capital of the UAE, to Baghdad through Iranian airspace on October 5. |
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