BAGHDAD: The emir of Qatar arrived in Baghdad on Thursday for a visit with “political and economic dimensions” as Iraq increasingly looks to other countries for assistance in rebuilding after decades of conflict.
Images shown on local media showed Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani being greeted at the airport by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani.
According to AFP, after a protracted period of animosity under Saddam Hussein, the previous dictator of Iraq, who was overthrown in the US-led invasion in 2003, relations between the two nations have recently begun to ease.
Approximately one-third of the population in Iraq lives in poverty despite the country’s massive oil and gas reserves, and the government is looking for regional allies to help the country’s ailing infrastructure and economy.
In the discussions with the ruler of gas-rich Qatar, “economic issues will take centre stage,” an Iraqi diplomatic official told AFP on the condition of anonymity.
The official said, “We will witness the signing of many memoranda of understanding in various sectors,” without going into further detail about the types of deals.
QatarEnergy has already committed to purchasing a 25% interest in the $10 billion Gas Growth Integrated Project, which aims to upgrade Iraq’s ageing electrical system and more effectively utilise its gas resources.
The French energy business TotalEnergies, which is in charge of a 45 percent interest in the project, invited the state-owned Qatari enterprise to join the collaboration. Basra Oil Company of Iraq owns 30%.
Qatari representatives attended a summit in Baghdad with their regional counterparts in late May, when Iraq unveiled an ambitious plan to transform itself into a transport hub by expanding its road and rail infrastructure and connecting Europe with the Middle East.
The $17 billion “Route of Development” project, which would extend 1,200 kilometres (745 miles) from the northern border with Turkey to the Gulf in the south, would run the whole length of the nation if it were finished.
