President, Meeting Italian Minister of Defence, Confirms Iraq's Desire to Build Strong Relationships with Italy and EU, Underlines that World Must Join Forces to Address Challenges

President Salih met today at his residence in Sulaymaniyah Italian Minister of Defence Lorenzo Guerini alongside his delegation.
At the outset of the meeting, the President stressed Iraq's eagerness to further develop Iraqi- Italian ties across all the fields, to work together to meet the different challenges facing the region and the world, first and foremost which is terrorism, in addition to strengthening economic, cultural cooperation and exchanging of experiences in that regard.
His Excellency the President noted that Iraq managed to defeat ISIS by the support of international coalition and friends but the war against terror continues that its sleeper cells remain threaten Iraq and the world as well.
Any complacency on chasing them and continuing presence of crisis situations in the area would allow for the re-emergence of the extremist groups as well as attacking cities and civilian people, he added.
Furthermore, he highlighted that the Government is, however, working on building a capable State, improving State regulation of weapons in the country, preventing outlaw groups' acts as well as protecting diplomatic missions.
Iraq will not be a battleground for various political agendas to settle their scores, he stated.
The President said that Iraq looked forward to receiving the support of the international community including Italy to achieve these goals, strengthen its relations on the basis of cooperation and achieving the common interests of peoples and countries in addition to joining forces to address the various global challenges.
International and regional cooperation would spread the spirit of peaceful coexistence in the region and the world, and would deny access to terrorist groups to undermine peace and stability, he underscored.

Presedent