Iraq
Iraqi prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi during a Council of Ministers meeting on October 27, 2020. File photo: Iraqi PMO
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Iraqi prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi made a phone call with the crown prince of Bahrain on Thursday, as efforts by the premier to strengthen ties with Arab countries continue.
During the phone call, Kadhimi “stressed the depth of the bilateral relations between the two countries, and the Iraqi government’s aspiration to enhance and develop ways of cooperation between Baghdad and Manama in various fields,” the prime minister’s media office stated.
Kadhimi also offered Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa his condolences on the death of Bahrain’s prime minister Khalifa bin Salman, the world’s longest serving premier.
The Bahraini prime minister died on Wednesday, at the age of 84. Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa ordered an official one week of mourning for his death, state-owned Bahrain News Agency announced.
Iraq's ties with Gulf states hit a new low after the 2011 Arab Spring when Shiite figures in Iraq backed protesters in Bahrain, a country with a large and restive population of Shiite Muslims ruled by a Sunni minority royal family.
Tensions between Iraq and Bahrain resurfaced in April 2019, after a diplomatic spat between their foreign ministries. In June 2019, protesters stormed the Bahraini embassy in Baghdad, angry over Bahrain's decision to host the “Peace for Prosperity” conference, where Jared Kushner, son-in-law and senior adviser to United States President Donald Trump, proposed a Israel-Palestine peace plan.
Kadhimi's phone call with the Gulf nation prince comes amid the Iraqi prime minister's efforts to strengthen ties with Bahrain's close ally and regional power Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations.
The Iraqi premier held a virtual meeting with Saudi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday to encourage Saudi investment in Iraq, according to a joint statement published by Iraq’s official state media. They also agreed to reopen Ararat border crossing within next week, closed for about 30 years, connecting western Iraq's Anbar province with Saudi Arabia.
Egyptian prime minister Mustafa Madbouly visited Baghdad, signing over a dozen agreements for the strengthening of Iraq’s healthcare, economic and infrastructure sectors, among others on October 31.
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