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Iraqi FM: Baghdad keen on expanding ties with Tehran

IRNA

Baghdad, Sept 15, IRNA -- Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zehari in a 
meeting with Iran`s charge d`affaires in Baghdad said his country is 
keen on forging closer ties with Tehran `in order to wipe out the 
lingering effects of the war between the two countries`. 
Zehari told Ali Reza Haghighian that a committee had been formed 
to ease the problems of Iranian pilgrims visiting the holy sites in 
Iraq. 
"Iraq also welcomes Iran`s participation in its reconstruction 
drive," Zehari said. 
For his part, Haghighian said Iran supports the newly formed Iraqi
Governing Council as a right step in establishing a legitimate 
government which embodies the will of the Iraqi people to govern their
own affairs. 
He said Iran respects Iraq`s territorial integrity and abides by 
principles of non-interference in each other affairs and good 
neighborly relations. 
He stressed Iran`s capabilities in industrial, construction 
sectors and infrastructural projects and welcomed Iran`s participation
in Iraqi reconstruction drive. 
He further conveyed Tehran readiness to supply to Iraq electricity
to meet its shortages. 
The start of the the search committee meetings on the fate of the 
missing in action (MiA) during the war between the two nation also 
figured in the discussions between the two officials. 
Iran recently dispatched its first high-ranking delegation for 
discussions with the Governing Council to shore up fences between the 
two countries. 
Earlier in August Tehran said it sought to forge strong ties with 
Iraq which waged an imposed war against Iran between 1980 and 1988 
under the former president Saddam Hussein. 
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said, "We would like 
to forge strong relations with our neighbor now that its dictatorial 
government, which kept the two countries separated for years, is 
gone." 
Asefi hailed the trip as `positive`, saying it enabled Iran to 
`clarify our stances, views and approaches towards Iraq and hear the 
views` of the other side. 
He further described economic transactions between the two 
countries in recent months as good, saying Iran exported 160 million 
dollars of goods to Iraq in the period. 
Asefi stressed that Iran holds no Iraqi prisoners from the 
1980-1988 war. "There is no Iraqi PoW in Iran and all the registered 
PoWs and those who were in Iran have been freed," he said. 
NB/AH/210 
End