Senior MP: Rouhani's Visit to Iraq to Further Reinvigorate Resistance Front
TEHRAN (FNA)- A senior member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission stressed that the recent visit by President Hassan Rouhani will further help the resistance front to strengthen its positions.
"The visit by President Hassan Rouhani to Iraq as one of the important regional states and Muslim country and one of our big neighbors was highly important," Hadi Shoushtari told FNA on Thursday.
"Development of relations between Tehran and Baghdad will further strengthen the resistance and revolutionary streams in the region and therefore, relations between Iran and Iraq should further expand in the political, economic and cultural fields," he added.
Shoushtari described bilateral relations between Tehran and Baghdad as "strategic".
President Rouhani arrived in Iraq on Monday for a three-day visit in order to boost bilateral ties between the two neighbors amid US sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
Rouhani traveled to Baghdad to hold talks with Iraqi officials. A high-ranking delegation is accompanying the president.
Tehran and Baghdad signed 5 Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) to give momentum to the expansion of bilateral cooperation in various economic and healthcare sectors.
The documents were signed by senior officials of the two countries in the presence of President Rouhani and Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi in Baghdad on Monday.
According to the documents, Tehran and Baghdad will improve cooperation in the fields of trade, healthcare and oil industry.
The two sides also agreed on the construction of a railroad link between the Iranian city of Shalamcheh and the Iraqi city of Basra as well as visa facilitation for investors and businessmen. According to the visa agreement, starting in early April 2019, the two countries will issue visas to each other's nationals free of charge.
Tehran and Baghdad signed another MoU to boost cooperation between Iran's Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade and Iraq’s Ministry of Trade.
The two countries also agreed to cooperate in all fields related to healthcare while another agreement pertained to cooperation between Iran's Ministry of Petroleum and its Iraqi counterpart.