China
and Iraq vowed to enhance cooperation and develop bilateral relations in
various fields, the Chinese embassy in Baghdad said in a statement on Monday.
The
statement came after Iraqi President Barham Salih received on Sunday China's
Ambassador to Iraq Zhang Tao at the presidential palace, where the two sides
exchanged views on bilateral relations.
During
the meeting, Salih said that the two countries have a long history of
friendship, and the bilateral ties have currently maintained a sound momentum
of development with fruitful pragmatic cooperation in various fields, the
statement said.
Salih
added that "Iraq attaches great importance to developing relations with
China."
He
said that "Iraq is willing to continuously strengthen exchanges at all
levels, deepen the strategic integration of each other's development
strategies, enhance strategic cooperation under the framework of the Belt and
Road Initiative, and promote the new strategic partnership between Iraq and
China," according to the statement.
For
his part, Zhang said that China is "willing to encourage more Chinese
enterprises to participate in post-war reconstruction in Iraq, support Iraq's
economic and social development, and continuously enrich the content of the China-Iraq
strategic partnership," the statement said.
He
added that "the traditional friendship between China and Iraq is profound
and long-lasting, and the establishment of diplomatic relations has contributed
to developing bilateral ties in a healthy and stable manner."
Zhang
believes that "since the establishment of the strategic partnership in
2015, the development of Chinese-Iraqi relations entered the fast lane, as the
political mutual trust between the two countries has been consolidated,
pragmatic cooperation has been deepened, and cultural exchanges have continued
to expand."
On
May 5, Zhang said in an interview with Iraqi state-run Al-Sabah newspaper that
the volume of the trade exchange between China and Iraq exceeded $30 billion in
2018.
He
asserted that "China is considered the biggest trading partner of Iraq,
and Iraq is the second biggest oil supplier to China, and the fourth biggest
trading partner of China in the Middle East."
