The Prime Minister of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki, will visit India from August 22-25. During his four day visit, he is expected to meet Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, and the Leader of Opposition, Sushma Swaraj, among other officials. He is expected to be accompanied by a delegation of senior oil, health, and agriculture ministers, as well as the head of Iraq’s National Investment Commission.
Both sides are expected to hold discussions focusing on energy, housing, healthcare, education and railways. Agreements on energy cooperation and water resources management are also expected to be inked during this meeting. The Iraqi Prime Minister is also expected to attend a meeting jointly organised by the three Indian business chambers – FICCI, CII and ASSOCHAM.
This is the first Head of Government-level visit between the two countries since 1975 when the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visited Baghdad.
India and Iraq share close bilateral, economic and cultural ties. In 2012-2013, bilateral trade between the two countries crossed $21 billion. Iraq has also emerged as India’s second largest crude oil supplier after Saudi Arabia. Following the U.S. sanctions on Iran, India has been looking at increasing its import of Iraqi crude oil. The Iraqi government has offered to increase the country’s oil exports to India by as much as 30% and is open to consider more favourable commercial terms including extending the interest free credit period from 30 days to 60 days.
The last high level meeting between New Delhi and Baghdad was during Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid’s visit to Iraq in June, where he met his counterpart Hoshyar Zebari and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.