The international media continues its interest in the activities of Sudani's government

Baghdad-INA 

The Arab and foreign media continue their great and increasing interest in the political, security and other developments taking place in the country, and the activity of the Iraqi government headed by Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani, at the internal and external levels, especially at the level of foreign relations and the mutual visits of leaders of Arab and foreign countries.

The Italian Prime Minister vist

The visit of the Italian Prime Minister, Georgia Meloni, and the round of talks she held with Al-Sudani, received the greatest amount of Arab and international media attention on Iraqi affairs and developments in the Middle East.

The Arab and international media, for the most part, focused on dealing with Meloni's visit to Iraq, on analyzing its dimensions, objectives, and the nature of the results that could result from it.

A group of Arab satellite channels, including (Sky News Channel), was keen to broadcast directly the press conference of Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudani and his Italian counterpart, while the news was present in all news bulletins on Arab satellite channels such as (Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, BBC Arabic, Al-Hurra, and others). from local TV channels).

It is noticeable that the Arab media was keen to host many political and economic analysts to comment on the dimensions and objectives of the visit, and the analyzes were positive in favor of the Iraqi government performance, with praise for the current foreign policy directions of the government of Prime Minister Muhammad Shia'a al-Sudani.

While part of the Arab media, when covering the news, focused on highlighting the Prime Minister's keenness to confirm the strength and distinction of bilateral relations between the two countries and his country's readiness to enhance cooperation with Italy in all fields.

Among the points that were present in the coverage of the visit by the Arab and international media was the positive role of Italy in the war against the terrorist gangs of ISIS, according to the assurances of the Prime Minister. In this context, the UAE Sky News channel discussed the Italian participation within the international coalition to fight ISIS, and hosted the former speaker. On behalf of the International Coalition against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, Miles Caggins, and the focus in hosting axes is the role of international forces to prevent terrorism, and the extent to which Iraq needs the presence of the International Coalition.

The Italian Prime Minister's statement: "There is no prosperity in the Middle East without a strong Iraq" received a noticeable share of media coverage, in addition to the Prime Minister's call to enhance the prospects for economic cooperation between the two countries, which was strongly present in many of the media that singled out A special discussion in this regard in its coverage of the visit, with a focus on the keenness of the two countries to activate the paths of partnership and investment between them and with Europe, while the Iraqi role in the international oil and gas market and the Iraqi plans to develop this sector had clear repercussions in the media that dealt with the visit.

Cultural cooperation between the two countries was also present in the statements of the Prime Minister and his Italian counterpart, and some media outlets have sought to link this to cultural diplomacy as one of the work axes of the current Iraqi government.

On the other hand, the Italian Prime Minister's expression of gratitude to the Prime Minister, Muhammad Shia'a al-Sudani, for considering the current December 25 an official holiday for all Iraqis, was present in a large number of media outlets.

A large number of media outlets referred to the axes of the Italian Prime Minister's discussion with Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, the Chaldean Patriarch in Iraq and the world, about the situation of Christians in Iraq, while encouraging them to stay and communicate by contributing to the reconstruction of their areas that were destroyed by ISIS and creating small projects to absorb unemployment in their hometowns.

Attempts to disturb the peace of the visit

Meanwhile, some sought to disturb the peace of the visit by attempting to deviate from the positive coverage by the Arab and international media of it by focusing on what was described as a "protocol error" by claiming that the official flag raised by the State of Italy during the visit was not its flag but rather the flag of the   Ireland, however, notes that the issue was quickly cordoned off and did not receive much media attention as planned, although it was the focus of discussion on social media.

In this context, it is possible to point out two main factors that contributed to the refutation of these allegations, the first of which is: the speed of action by the Media Office of the Prime Minister and the explanation and clarification of the facts. Promote it in this regard, which greatly contributed to extinguishing any fabricated discussion on this subject, and secondly: the issuance of tweets from the Italian side in both English and Arabic about what happened, with a detailed explanation confirming the credibility of the Iraqi narrative that what happened does not go beyond the presence of a clear defect in photography .

In this regard, it is noted that the Al-Jazeera website has paid attention to this issue and shed light on it through a report entitled "In a protocol error ... the Iraqi government receives the Prime Minister of Italy with the flag of Ireland." The report was keen to note that this is not the first protocol error, and that Iraqi officials signed In previous protocol errors.

Anti-terrorism

Other issues related to Iraqi affairs that received media coverage are related to Iraq's efforts to combat terrorism, as Al-Arabiya website singled out a news report regarding the decision of the Supreme Judicial Council to sentence to death the person responsible for the killing of more than 600 victims of the Camp Speicher massacre, when he was a leader in the terrorist organization ISIS, The accused was in the position of what is known as the "Emir of the Strike Force" of the so-called Saladin Province. The website attached a photo and video of the massacre to the report.

In a related context, the National Security Agency's announcement of the arrest of gunmen who attacked a security checkpoint in Kirkuk was among the prominent news of Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.


The files of the displaced and the water crisis

It was also noted that a number of Arab media outlets were interested in the announcement of the Ministry of Migration and Displacement that it is seeking to return all the displaced to their areas of original residence in the country.

Some media outlets were interested in the Ministry of Water Resources revealing plans to confront the water crisis by constructing small dams to benefit from rain and torrents, as well as projects for water desalination. The most prominent of these areas were Karbala, Diyala and Baghdad.


Baghdad Second Conference for Cooperation and Partnership

The Jordanian media is still continuing its analysis and commentary on the second Baghdad Conference, which was held in the Kingdom of Jordan recently. In a detailed analysis of the results of the conference, Al-Ghad website published an article entitled "Baghdad Conference Redraws the Regional Scene", pouring into the general direction of how the Gulf and Jordanian media deal with the Prime Minister's participation. Al-Iraqi attended the conference as evidence of Iraq's desire to resolve the crisis of Iranian and Turkish external interference through dialogue.


Plasschaert message by the end of 2022

Others from the Arab media published the statements of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, who indicated that the conditions in the country during 2022 were "difficult", highlighting what came in her statement: "But with the approaching The year has come to an end, and government institutions have been able to resume their duties, giving Iraq a great opportunity to embark on the path of stability and progress.

 

Economic cooperation

At the international level, the English and Italian-speaking foreign media focused on the Italian Prime Minister's visit to Iraq, and while the Italian media focused on the Prime Minister's meeting with the Italian soldiers and officers working in Iraq, there was a common interest in the English- and Italian-speaking media on economic cooperation between Iraq And Italy was clear, and the  Arab News website headlined its coverage of the visit with "Iraq informs the Italian Prime Minister that it is seeking closer economic relations."

The economy was also present in the international media’s handling of the Iraqi issue, as a number of media outlets revealed that the American company “Bell Helicopter” for logistics services had obtained a contract in Iraq worth about $ 135 million, and the Fitch Ratings Agency announced that the default long-term rating of the currency issuer Foreign investments in Iraq will be at  B level with a stable outlook.  .