In the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), the third session of the strategic negotiations between Washington and Baghdad is scheduled to take place on April 7, as per the US State Department. This would be the very first of such dialogues between the two countries since US President Joe Biden took office.
The US Department’s Press Office for the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs announced, “The United States and the Republic of Iraq will hold Strategic Dialogue discussions via video teleconference on April 7th in accordance with the 2008 Strategic Framework Agreement between our two countries”.
These talks are aimed at strengthening bilateral relations in numerous sectors, which were initially held in June and then in August 2020, under the Donald Trump administration.
“The discussions will cover security and counterterrorism, economics and energy, political issues, and educational and cultural cooperation,” added the office.
Iraq had released an entreat to the US for the continuation of the dialogues, as per Iraqi officials speaking to the Associated Press (AP).
On Tuesday, the White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki indicated in a statement that the talks will commence in April without stating a specific date.
“This will be an important opportunity to discuss our mutual interests across a range of fields from security to culture, trade, and climate,” she announced.
“The meetings will further clarify that coalition forces are in Iraq solely for the purpose of training and advising Iraqi forces to ensure that ISIS cannot re-emerge,” she added.
The new assembly for the dialogues come as the Iraqi government works on a schedule for the extraction of foreign troops, Hussein Allawi, an advisor to Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi confirmed on Wednesday.
“Launching the third phase of the Iraqi-American strategic dialogue is a success for the Iraqi government and the government of President Biden, and it will support democracy and combat terrorism,” Allawi said.
