Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Sameh Shoukry began his visit on Saturday to the Iraqi capital of Baghdad by meeting his Iraqi counterpart, Ibrahim Al-Gaafary.
According to a statement released by the minister, Shoukry and Al-Gaafary discussed cooperation between Cairo and Baghdad in several regional issues and current development in Iraq.
Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid said the visit aims to affirm Egypt’s support for Iraq in facing the current challenges, in particular fighting terrorism.
According to Abu Zeid, Al-Gaafary praised Egypt’s efforts in supporting joint Arab cooperation. Current developments in Syria, Libya, and Yemen were also on the table for discussion.
Shoukry discussed bilateral cooperation with Iraqi prime minister Haydar Al-Abadi and parliament speaker Saleem Al-Gabori.
Shoukry also inaugurated the new building of the Egyptian embassy in Baghdad.
Iraq is currently involved in an intense fight against Islamic State, (IS) which gained control over major areas in the country last year.
Recently, Iraqi forces seized the last remaining strongholds of IS in Fallujah after five weeks of fighting.
IS took control of the city in January 2014, and at the same time controlled a wide area of northern Iraq, declaring it a caliphate along with land it had seized in Syria.
Egypt praised efforts carried out recently by the Iraqi army in official statements.
