Media


Iraqi Prime Minister calls for further “cooperation and partnership” between Iraq and the E.U

16 APRIL 2008

Nouri al-Maliki, Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq, today (16th April 2008) called for “new steps of cooperation and partnership between Iraq and the E.U” during a wide ranging address at a special joint meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs and its Delegation for relations with Iraq chaired by Baroness Emma Nicholson MEP.

In a well received speech, al-Maliki declared “our people who breathed the air of freedom will not give up democratic choice. They are determined to protect this democratic experiment which is based on the peaceful circulation of power, freedom of opinion and expression, and pluralism.” He continued: “Iraq is also keen to live peacefully with neighbouring countries, and to become a stabilising factor in the security, development, and prosperity of the region.”
 
Al-Maliki highlighted that Iraq is “in need today of European experts, technologies, companies, and capital, for an effective contribution to the process of reconstruction.”

Discussing terrorist organisations operating in Iraq, al-Maliki stated that they wanted “to take the country back to the era of dictatorship and oppression, that dark era from which our people suffered for 35 years.  An era that cost Iraq huge losses in lives and material during the wars, the foolish adventures, and the genocide crimes in Anfal, Halabja, the mass graves, the prisons, and detention centres”.

Speaking following the meeting, Baroness Emma Nicholson stated: “Today’s historic speech by the Iraqi Prime Minister in the European Parliament is a call to Europe to embrace its shared future with Iraq.  We must show the Iraqi Government and people that we have the determination and the stamina to help this new democracy meet its potential, not just for its own people but for the region and the wider world.”

END

NOTES:

• Baroness Nicholson MEP is Chairman of the Permanent ad hoc Delegation for relations with Iraq.
• Baroness Nicholson MEP was the first Western politician to address the Iraqi Parliament in October 2007.