Today, Thursday, April 18th, newspapers published in Baghdad continued to follow the parliamentary and political reactions to Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani’s visit to Washington, and his meetings and discussions with various American political and economic bodies and institutions.
Al-Sabah newspaper, published by the Iraqi Media Network, said: ‘Various parliamentary and political circles expressed their satisfaction and optimism with the preliminary results of the discussions between Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani and the Iraqi delegation accompanying him during his current official visit to Washington.’
The Deputy Chairman of the Strategic Planning Committee and Follow-up of the Implementation of the Parliamentary Government Program, Mohamed Al-Baldawi, said in a statement to Al-Sabah: ‘The Prime Minister’s visit to the United States of America is of great importance; ‘Given the circumstances that this region is going through, which have intensified and reached the maximum level of milit
ary conflict, and also because the region enjoys economic resources that almost run the world.’
He added: ‘Organizing relations with the United States of America requires such visits, due to the importance of the files between the two countries, the most important of which are those files that the Prime Minister is discussing, the most prominent of which is the file of the foreign presence on Iraqi territory, and through the schedule of meetings during the visit that was published, we notice their diversity of their dimensions.’
While the newspaper quoted the Chairman of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Atwan Al-Atwani, as saying: ‘We are following with great satisfaction the results of the discussions of the Iraqi delegation currently visiting Washington, headed by Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani.’
Al-Atwani affirmed his full support for the positive understandings that resulted from al-Sudani’s meeting with the American President within the framework of the shift in the relationship between t
he two countries from the security and military aspects to the areas of development, reconstruction, economy and investment.
The newspaper pointed out the words of the independent politician, Ayed Al-Hilali, who participated in the Iraqi delegation in Washington: ‘The current Iraqi leadership finds al-Sudani’s visit to Washington of great importance in order to put the dots on the letters to begin drawing the future of relations between the two countries, and how to move from a military and security presence towards a comprehensive, sustainable partnership through which the two governments (Iraqi and US) will work to improve the performance of Iraqi government institutions and embark on a major development process.’
He added, “Iraq has set its feet on the path to modernizing the state’s components, and has begun to curb corruption and link Iraqi financial institutions to the global system. The government has also gone to modernize and create infrastructure in order to make Iraq an attractive environment for
investments. Agreements have been concluded with major countries and companies, and this is what motivated the American side to interact significantly with al-Sudani’s reform steps.’
Within the same context, Al-Zawraa newspaper, which is published by the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate, followed al-Sudani’s meeting with the head of JPMorgan Bank, Masha Clovoxy, and his accompanying delegation in Washington.
It referred to discussing the government’s efforts in implementing financial and banking reforms, in light of the path it is taking towards improving the economic situation and achieving development, in addition to discussing the government’s measures in developing the government banking sector, through its contracts with major international consulting companies specialized in banking reform, and encouraging private banks to open accounts with foreign banks to be correspondent banks, according to a plan aimed at dispensing with the electronic platform at the end of this year.’
It quoted the Prime Minister a
s saying: ‘It is not possible to work in any development sector without reform steps for the banking sector, and the necessity of continuing the dialogue with the US Treasury, the US Federal Reserve, the International Monetary Fund, and other international financial institutions.’
The newspaper also followed Al-Sudani’s meeting with the Chairman of the American Wheat Council, Vince Peterson, and his accompanying delegation, and discussed aspects of future cooperation in supplying wheat to Iraq of the best quality and at reasonable prices in order to produce flour outside the use of the ration card.
It pointed to Al-Sudani’s confirmation of the government’s keenness to continue cooperation with specialized American companies, in order to produce flour for the local market and dispense with importing it, in addition to the government’s continuing efforts in the field of enhancing food security by supporting farmers and the private agricultural sector in Iraq.
Source: National Iraqi News Agency