Egypt, Iraq Discuss Ways of Strengthening Joint Cooperation
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Wednesday - 19 April 2023
On Tuesday, the Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat met H.E. Dr. Nizar Amedy, Iraqi Minister of Environment, on the sidelines of the 2023 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington.
During the meeting, Al-Mashat discussed areas of joint cooperation between the two sides and referred to the results achieved during COP27, hosted by Egypt last November. Egyptian-Iraqi cooperation in various related fields was also discussed through the Egyptian-Iraqi Joint Higher Committee as well as the keenness of the political leadership to enhance areas of cooperation between the two sides.
Al-Mashat and Amedy discussed preparations for convening the Egyptian-Iraqi Joint Higher Committee in its second session, following the success of the first session that was held in 2020 and resulted in the signing of 15 joint cooperation agreements in various fields of development and the organization of an economic and trade forum between the private sectors of the two countries. Al-Mashat said that the second session of the joint committee comes with the purpose of implementing the directives of the leaders of the two countries in hopes of strengthening and building on the results of the first session to enhance joint relations between the two countries and achieve common development goals.
She added that the Egyptian-Iraqi relations had witnessed great development over the past years, based on the keenness of the leaders of the two countries to deepen development partnerships in various economic, trade and investment fields, and open horizons for partnership between the private sectors of the two countries at the bilateral level, in addition to strengthening joint tripartite cooperation between Egypt, Jordan and Iraq.
It is worth noting that the first session of the Egyptian-Iraqi Joint Higher Committee was held during October 2020, for the first time in nearly 30 years, and the prime ministers of the two countries witnessed the signing of 15 memorandums of understanding, in the areas of planning, investment, stock exchange, maritime transport, roads and bridges, water resources, irrigation, housing, environment, justice, health and anti-dumping, consumer protection, the federation of industries, industrial cooperation, international exhibitions, and the organization of an economic and trade forum with the participation of heads of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce, relevant ministries and the private sector from both sides.
The Ministry of International Cooperation supervises 68 joint committees between Egypt and many countries, among them 10 joint higher committees. The ministry presides over the preparatory side, in addition to 15 technical and sectoral committees that are held under the chairmanship of the Ministry of International Cooperation and their counterparts from other parties.
The year 2022 witnessed the convening of the Joint Higher Committee between the Arab Republic of Egypt and Arab countries; Jordan, Tunisia and Algeria, within the framework of developing and strengthening bilateral relations and joint development efforts, in addition to the convening of the committee for economic, scientific and technical cooperation between the Arab Republic of Egypt and Azerbaijan, along with an agreement to revive the Egyptian-Polish Joint Committee, and the Egyptian-Sudanese Land Ports Committee.
