ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — France’s foreign minister arrived in Baghdad Thursday in anticipation of talks with his Iraqi counterpart to discuss bilateral relations and future cooperation between the two countries, according to state media.
Ahmed al-Sahaf, the Iraqi foreign ministry spokesperson, announced the impending Thursday meeting between Iraqi foreign minister Fuad Hussein and French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian to state-media outlet INA late Wednesday. Drian will also later meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, as well as Iraqi president, Barham Salih, he added.
“The Iraqi foreign minister will discuss with his French counterpart, strengthening cooperation in various fields, including health, electricity, culture, as well as discussing the most common challenges and opportunities available to support Iraq,” al-Sahaf told INA.
Drian is planning to visit the Kurdistan region as well later on Thursday to meet with Kurdish officials.
The French state official is expected to present a set of investment offers to the Iraqi government from French companies to help Iraq face the economic crisis, according to al-Sahaf.
United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) announced Thursday that France has committed EUR 300,000 (US $334,448) to support Iraq's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The funds will be used to purchase ventilators – a life-saving piece of equipment for Coronavirus patients – for Basra Teaching Hospital in southern Iraq," reads a UNAMI statement.
Due to continued budget issues, the global plunge in oil prices as well the dramatic plummet of domestic revenues due to the coronavirus containment measures, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Iraq has been struggling to pay its civil servants.
The current Iraqi government decided last month to scrap plans to hash out its 2020 budget and will instead focus on formulating a budget for 2021, due to the high deficit caused by crashing oil revenues.
The economic crisis has pushed Iraqis to the streets in protest in southern Iraqi provinces in recent days, demanding services and an end to corruption.
Kadhimi issued an order on Saturday to deploy Iraqi security forces to border crossings across Iraq to prevent further corruption and illegal trade.
The prime minister also visited Umm Qasr border crossing in Basra, where he also stressed the the importance of having Iraqi security forces in the area, and “vowed” to fight corruption in the border crossings in Iraq, and bring corrupt officials to justice.
Correction: A previous version of this story attributed a statement on France's commitment of €300,000 to
United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI); the statement was in fact made by UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) in Iraq.
Updated on July 18, 2020 at 9:18 am
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