An official invitation from Iraq for Guterres to attend the Arab summit in Baghdad
Iraq’s representative to the United Nations in New York, Abbas Kazem Obaid, confirmed on Wednesday that United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres accepted Iraq’s official invitation to participate in the Arab summit in Baghdad.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement received by {Euphrates News} that “the representative of the Republic of Iraq to the United Nations in New York, Abbas Kazem Obaid, met with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, at the headquarters of the organization. During the meeting, the representative of Iraq presented the official letter addressed by the President of the Republic, Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid, to the Secretary-General, which includes his invitation to attend and participate in the work of the next Arab summit to be held in the capital Baghdad on May 17, 2025.”
According to the statement, Obaid conveyed “Greetings to the President of the Republic, His Excellency Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein to the Secretary-General,” stressing their keenness to “attend him, because of the value his participation adds to the summit discussions.”
The statement added that “during the meeting, the most prominent issues on the agenda of the United Nations were also discussed in light of regional and international geopolitical variables, in addition to the priorities and concerns of the Group of 77 and China, currently chaired by Iraq, especially in the fields of financing for development, climate change and sustainable development.”
The representative of Iraq, according to the statement, stressed “the Group’s keenness to strengthen the partnership with the United Nations and its specialized agencies, to achieve common goals in accordance with the principle of collective responsibility.”
He added that “the meeting discussed the prospects for cooperation between Iraq and the United Nations in the post-termination of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), appreciating the efforts made by the mission during the past two decades,” pointing to “the measures and facilities provided by the concerned Iraqi government institutions to end the mission’s tasks responsibly by the end of this year.”
For his part, the Secretary-General of the United Nations expressed “his appreciation for inviting him to attend the Arab Summit in Baghdad, stressing his participation in its work,” pointing out that “the termination of the tasks of the UNAMI mission is an indicator of the great progress and successes achieved by Iraq in various fields.”