Al-Kadhmi: The meeting with Trump was prolific, and we will move to a new stage

 Washington - INA - Zina Ibrahim

 Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhmi confirmed today, Friday, that his meeting with US President Donald Trump was important and successful.

Al-Kadhmi said in an interview with Al-Iraqiya news channel followed by the Iraqi News Agency (INA): "Both Iraqi and American parties came out comfortable from this meeting," pointing out that "during the meeting there was talk about economic cooperation, security cooperation, and a reassessment of the American presence in Iraq." ".

Al-Kadhmi added that "it was agreed through the strategic dialogue headed by the Secretary of State and his American counterpart on a set of principles, all of which are in the interests of the Iraqi people, relating to the presence of American forces, its rescheduling, and the redeployment of American forces outside Iraq," indicating that "it was agreed within the strategic dialogue." I have to set up a technical team to find a mechanism for this deployment outside Iraq. "

Al-Kadhmi pointed out that: "For the first time, I see clear American positions that understand the demands of the Iraqi government," noting that "President Trump confirmed that the American forces will withdraw from Iraq during the next three years, and they are discussing their deployment outside Iraq."He continued, "The American president said: The numbers of American forces are very few, and indeed they are few, but Iraq needs these forces to train and develop the army and security forces."

Al-Kadhmi explained that "from the economic side, Iraq needs to evaluate the relationship for its own interests, especially since America is an important country and has major industries, in terms of oil, energy and even education," stressing that "Iraq has an opportunity to benefit from a partnership with a major industrial country."

He indicated that "a set of memoranda of understanding was signed in the field of oil and energy, the most important of which is a contract regarding oil in Dhi Qar province, and it is a strategic project that has great benefit for the people of the province and Iraq in general."

Al-Kadhmi said, "Certainly, this partnership establishes a new relationship based on the relationship of a state with a state," noting that "the Iraqi viewpoint and the decision of the interests of Iraq are not decided by others."

He noted that "what he said during his recent visit to Iran is the same as what he said to the United States, which is the search for state-state relations, and the search for the Iraqi special relationship, which is valued by the interest of Iraq."

He continued: "We always raise the slogan of Iraq first, and today in this corner we believe that the interest of Iraq is what determines the type of its relations, and we told the American side that we are working on the principle of the relationship according to Iraqi sovereignty."

Al-Kadhmi pointed out that: “Turkey is a neighboring country, and a large and very important country, but at the same time we reject the Turkish aggression on Iraqi lands, and we also reject the attacks by some parties on Turkish lands from Iraq or even from other countries,” pointing out that “ The Iraqi constitution will not allow Iraq to be a starting point for attacking any of its neighbors, and we do not allow that, not with Turkey or anyone else. "

Al-Kadhmi stressed that "Iraq respects its neighbors, and asks others to exchange it for the same thing," noting that "his visit to Jordan will be in the middle of next week to discuss relations between the two countries."