SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
Top regional officials in Iraq for symbolic summit
Baghdad, April 20 (AFP) Apr 20, 2019
Top officials from Iraq's six neighbours gathered in its capital Saturday for a symbolic summit showcasing Baghdad's aspirations as a regional mediator, but which otherwise produced no tangible outcome.

The one-day roundtable brought together countries fiercely at odds across the region.

Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Kuwait sent the heads of their legislative bodies, while Iran dispatched a senior parliamentary official.

Hosted by Iraq's youngest-ever speaker of parliament, 38-year-old Mohammed al-Halbusi, the meeting lasted just shy of three hours.

The countries pledged to support stability, reconstruction and development in Iraq, which has been ravaged by several decades of conflict including a three-year battle against the Islamic State group.

"The stability of Iraq is necessary for the stability of the region," read the concluding statement.

Participating nations also rejected "interference" in Iraq's internal affairs, although most have deep political and economic interests in the country.

Attendees did not announce any diplomatic breakthroughs, despite the summit's symbolic success in bringing together rival countries around a single table.

Baghdad has sought to market itself as a neutral meeting place for the Middle East's competing forces.

Iraqi premier Adel Abdel Mahdi recently visited both Riyadh and Tehran.

Saudi Arabia and Iran severed diplomatic ties with one another in 2016 and are locked in proxy wars across the region.

Turkey and Iran have backed opposing sides in Syria's conflict, which since 2011 has isolated Damascus diplomatically.

As part of its new regional role, Baghdad has sought to restore Syria's membership of the Arab League.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
Maven stays silent after routine pass behind Mars
ICE-CSIC leads a pioneering study on the feasibility of asteroid mining
NASA JPL Unveils Rover Operations Center for Moon, Mars Missions

24/7 Energy News Coverage
Thorium plated steel points to smaller nuclear clocks
Solar ghost particles seen flipping carbon atoms in underground detector
Overview Energy debuts airborne power beaming milestone for space based solar power

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Autonomous DARPA project to expand satellite surveillance network by BAE Systems
IAEA calls for repair work on Chernobyl sarcophagus
Momentus joins US Space Force SHIELD contract vehicle

24/7 News Coverage
UAlbany Atmospheric Scientist Proposes Innovative Method to Reduce Aviation's Climate Impact
Digital twin successfully launched and deployed into space
Robots that spare warehouse workers the heavy lifting



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.