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Lebanon Keen to Boost Cooperation With Iraq: Official
Lebanon is keen to boost cooperation with Iraq, especially in the fields of oil and trade, a visiting Lebanese official said Thursday, December 7.
Fouad Siniora, Lebanese finance minister, made the remark during his meeting with Izzat Ibrahim, vice chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council.
Iraq will be able to overcome all the difficulties caused by the decade-old United Nations sanctions, he said, adding that his visit came as an expression of solidarity with Iraq and an challenge to the sanctions, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.
Siniora, heading an official delegation, arrived in Baghdad by plane on Thursday in a direct flight from Beirut.
For his part, Ibrahim expressed hope that the visit will contribute to further development of bilateral relations.
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has ordered to give priority to developing relations with Arab countries, and Lebanon is one of them, Ibrahim said.
Besides Ibrahim, the Lebanese minister also met and held talks with Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz and Minister of Finance Hikmet Mizban Ibrahim on Thursday.
Relations between Iraq and Lebanon have been steadily developing since diplomatic ties between the two countries resumed in 1998.
Lebanon calls for lifting the sanctions on Iraq, triggered by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, and has dispatched several planes to the air embargo-hit nation to show its solidarity.
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