Sudani arrived in Washington on Saturday in his first ever US visit as prime minister and is set to meet with US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday. He is also scheduled to visit the Pentagon and meet with US lawmakers, companies, and members of the Iraqi diaspora.
“The Kurdistan Region looks forward with optimism to the visit of Prime Minister @mohamedshia to Washington. We fully support this visit and are confident that the interests of all Iraqis will be represented,” President Barzani said on X.
“We hope that there will be productive meetings that further develop relations between our countries,” Barzani added.
On Sunday, Iraqi government spokesperson Basem al-Awadi told Rudaw that economic matters are the top priority of Sudani’s visit.
“The main purpose of the visit is to reactivate the Strategic Framework Agreement,” said Awadi, 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.
Before his departure, Sudani said in a video message that the goal of his visit was to bring relations with the US to “a new stage.
The official schedule of the visit published by the prime minister’s office includes meetings with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Biden’s National Security Council Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk.
