Yesterday on Wednesday, located in Iraq’s capital city Baghdad, a meeting of experts from the joint Egyptian-Iraqi High Committee was heled and chaired by Mr. Tariq Al Shaarawi, Adviser to the Minister of International Cooperation and Supervisor of the Arab and African Cooperation Sector, with Mr. Walid Habib Al Helou, Undersecretary of the Iraqi Ministry of Trade.
On Friday, a meeting will be held under the chairmanship of H.E Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, and H.E. Alaa Al-Jabouri, Minister of Trade, which will be followed by a meeting by the prime ministers of the two countries on Saturday. The meeting was attended by representatives of the following ministries and agencies: Foreign Affairs, Trade and Industry, Transport, Agriculture, Health, Housing, Petroleum, Electricity, Solidarity, Communications, the Central Bank of Egypt, Justice, Finance, Civil Aviation, Manpower, Planning, Military Production, Higher Education, Enterprises Development Agency, Consumer Protection Agency, General Authority for Investment, Industrial Development Authority, Federation of Egyptian Industries, Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, Egyptian Federation of Investors Associations, and Egyptian Federation for Construction and Building Contractors. The meeting witnessed the conclusion of the final drafts of documents, which are now ready for signature on Saturday during the Supreme Committee headed by the prime ministers. The participants were divided into five sub-committees: the Foreign Affairs and Political Coordination Committee, the Commercial, Investment and Financial Affairs Committee, the Consular and Judicial Affairs, Security and Human Resources Committee, the Technical, Production and Energy Affairs Committee, as well as the Legal Review and Drafting Committee for Agreements. Through enhancing economic diplomacy between the two countries, the joint committee will encourage investments between the countries, particularly in industry, agriculture, energy, tourism and construction. Minister of International Cooperation, H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, met with the Ambassador of Iraq in Cairo and permanent representative to the Arab League Ahmed Nayef Al-Dulaimi in September, to discuss developments of the Egyptian-Iraqi Joint Higher Committee, in which emphasized Egypt’s keen interest to grow relations with Iraq in all economic cooperation aspects. Iraq’s ambassador to Cairo and permanent representative to the Arab League Ahmed Nayef Al-Dulaimi held a series of meetings with Egypt’s ministers of housing, investment, industry, and international cooperation to discuss the role Egyptian companies in the reconstruction of Iraq. Head of the Federation of Arab Contractors estimates that Iraq requires between $150-$200 billion for reconstruction.