ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi on Friday met with a number of top officials in New York City, discussing Iraq’s political and economic challenges, ahead of his scheduled speech at the annual United Nations summit later in the day.
The Iraqi premier met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and World Bank Vice President for Middle East and North Africa Ferid Belhaj on the sidelines of the 77th UN General Assembly (UNGA).
“During the meeting, they discussed the situation in Iraq and the government's efforts to mitigate political differences by adopting the national dialogue initiative between political forces,” read a statement from Kadhimi’s office regarding his meeting with Guterres.
Iraq is in the midst of a deepening political deadlock with the current parliament having failed to form the country’s next government almost a year after the snap elections of October 2021, due to disagreements between the main political blocs over the mechanisms of its formation.
Headed by Kadhimi and President Barham Salih, sessions of “national dialogue” have been held between the political parties of Iraq in hopes of resolving the disputes, but the sessions have been boycotted by representatives of one of the country’s main political actors: The Sadrist Movement.
Iraq’s sovereignty, issue of drought, and education infrastructure were also among the topics discussed between Kadhimi and Guterres.
The Iraqi PM addressed the country’s “positive growth” in the economy sector with Belhaj, and reviewed the financial and economic cooperation between Baghdad and the World Bank.
“The Prime Minister affirmed Iraq's determination to continue the economic reform program and to lay solid foundations for sustainable development, creating an attractive investment environment and emphasizing cooperation with the World Bank in the areas of modernizing the country's water policy and food security projects,” the statement from the PM’s office added.
The Central Bank of Iraq said earlier this month that its foreign reserves have reached more than 85 billion US dollars, the highest rate the bank has recorded since 2003.
The record-high rise comes after cash reserves have seen a significant increase throughout the year compared to the year before due to soaring global oil prices, triggered by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
