ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani on Wednesday presided over the signing of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) in several sectors, between the Iraqi government and American companies, as well as between the American and Iraqi private sector.
Sudani is currently leading a top Iraqi delegation to the US in what marks his first visit to the country as Iraq’s prime minister.Since his arrival in Washington DC on Saturday he has met with US President Joe Biden and other American officials, as well as several US companies.
The Iraqi prime minister “sponsored the signing ceremony of Memorandums of Understanding between the Iraqi Ministries of Oil and Electricity, the Iraq Development Fund, several American companies, and the Iraqi private sector,” according to a statement from his office.
“These agreements focus on cooperation in the energy and pharmaceutical industries,” it added.
Nineteen MoUs were signed between the two sides according to Steve Lutes, the vice president of Middle East Affairs at the US Chamber of Commerce, who said that the agreements extend across the sectors of energy, electricity, gas capture, healthcare, and agriculture.
“We think there is a lot of promise in all of these areas and more, the agreements today were a very important step forward, and we look forward to seeing a lot of these MoUs become contracts,” Lutes told Rudaw’s Diyar Kurda.
“We hope we can see many more MoUs that will come from the partnerships we will be able to forge between the US and the Iraqi companies,” United States Ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski told Rudaw.
Biden and Sudani on Monday stressed their commitment to comprehensive bilateral cooperation in line with the Strategic Framework Agreement, including political, economic, and security cooperation, according to a joint statement released following the meeting.
Ahead of a US-Iraq Higher Coordination Committee (HCC) meeting on Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the American private sector is interested in “engaging, investing, and lending its expertise to Iraq,” especially in the energy sector.
“The main purpose of the visit is to reactivate the Strategic Framework Agreement,” Iraqi government spokesperson Bassem al-Awadi, told Rudaw earlier in the week, noting that the agreement contains “seven important sections, such as economy, investment, agriculture, education, environment, and climate,” all areas where Iraq wants to improve ties with the US.
The Strategic Framework Agreement came into effect in 2009 and seeks to normalize Baghdad-Washington relations through long-term bilateral economic, diplomatic, cultural, and security cooperation.
