ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – In his first trip to neighbouring Saudi Arabia, Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi oversaw the inking of a dozen deals just a week and a half after he visited the Kingdom’s regional rival Iran. Iraq is trying to position itself as a neutral friend to all sides in the divided Middle East.
Saudi Arabia is a “neighbouring, brotherly, and developed country and the openness of Iraq towards Saudi is in the favour of both countries,” Abdul-Mahdi told Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz in a meeting in Riyadh on Wednesday, according to a readout from his office.
The Iraqi premier was accompanied by a team of his ministers and they signed 13 deals and memoranda of understandings, mostly in fields of political consultation, investment promotion and protection, agriculture, energy, electricity, and higher education. Details of the agreements were not revealed.
Emerging from years of war with the Islamic State, Iraq is looking for investment and assistance as it rebuilds its infrastructure and economy. A ministerial and business delegation from Saudi Arabia visited Baghdad earlier this month, bringing with them pledges of $1.5 billion in loans and support. They also lay the final groundwork for the deals that were signed in Riyadh on Wednesday.
"Today Iraq is stable and secure, looking forward to achieving economic and constructional renaissance," Abdul-Mahdi told the king.
This is his third trip abroad after visiting Egypt in March and Iran in early April where his government also signed a range of agreements.
Wedged between Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia, Iraq hopes it can serve as a bridge without getting drawn into their dispute.
The Saudi government stressed their “brotherly” ties with Iraq in its comments of the visit.
“Dear brothers, what connect us to #Iraq is not geography and common interests, but blood ties, history, and common destiny” - @KingSalman
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“Dear brothers, what connects us to Iraq is not geography and common interests, but blood ties, history, and common destiny,” the king said in a video published on Twitter by the foreign ministry.
In his meetings with Abdul-Mahdi, the monarch “stressed his keenness to strengthen cooperation between the two brotherly countries in various areas,” according to the ministry.