Iraq seeks good ties with neighbors, Hashimi tells Moallem

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashimi on Thursday expressed his country’s wish to establish good relations with neighboring countries within mutual respect and joint interests, praising Damascus’ position regarding Iraqi nationals in Syrian territories, a statement by Hashimi’s office said. “Vice President Hashimi received Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem and his accompanying delegation and exchanged views on bilateral ties and mechanisms to develop them as well as the position towards Iran, efforts exerted to achieve Arab reconciliation among Palestinian factions and the U.S. stance on the Middle East crisis,” according to the statement received by IraqiNews.com news agency. The meeting was attended by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, the Syrian ambassador to Iraq Nawaf Abboud and other officials. Moallem hoped Iraq and Syria would start a “new chapter of bilateral relations between the two neighboring countries”. The Syrian foreign minister had arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday (March 25) to hold talks with Iraqi officials on ways of fostering bilateral ties in various domains as well as exchanging opinions on regional and international developments. AmR (P) 1