Baghdad submits a request to host the Arab Summit for the second time after 2003

[size=52]Baghdad submits a request to host the Arab Summit for the second time after 2003[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad/ Tamim Al-Hassan[/size]
[size=45]Baghdad intends to host the Arab Summit year after next, the second hosting of the Arab event after 2003 and the fourth since the founding of the Arab League about 80 years ago. Iraq's request comes within the efforts of Muhammad al-Sudani's government to open up to the Arab, regional and international world, but it is a policy that sometimes clashes with some of al-Sudani's partners.[/size]
[size=45]The Prime Minister recently returned from a global summit on security, where he met with a number of European leaders and American officials, while he received an invitation for the second time to visit Washington.[/size]
[size=45]On Monday evening, the government announced the submission of a request to host the 2025 Arab Summit in the capital, Baghdad.[/size]
[size=45]This came in a statement by the government spokesman, Basem Al-Awadi, less than 3 months before the 2024 Arab Summit was held in Bahrain.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Awadi said, “Iraq has submitted a request to host the 2025 Arab Summit in the capital, Baghdad, and the government seeks to complete the components of this hosting, in a way that suits the guests from the leaders of Arab countries, in accordance with diplomatic norms and in accordance with the status and reputation of the host country.”[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that “the government has begun preparing and securing the necessary supplies for this.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Awdai's statements, in which he revealed Iraq's request to host the Arab summit, came after accusations that the government was spending billions to repair presidential palaces.[/size]
[size=45]The government spokesman said that in preparation for that event, “there has become an urgent need to prepare the necessary infrastructure, including rehabilitating government hospitality buildings, which are deteriorating significantly and clearly.”[/size]
[size=45]He stated that after circulating a document on social media platforms indicating the rehabilitation of a number of “homes,” he confirmed that “the government has decided to comprehensively rehabilitate some presidential complexes, which include a number of major guest houses.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Awadi pointed out that some of these palaces had previously been occupied by “some ministers and representatives, which made them in need of comprehensive maintenance and rehabilitation.”[/size]
[size=45]Regarding the restoration costs, Al-Awadi said that the Ministry of Construction prepared the required statements in accordance with their price and technical specifications, and the Ministry of Planning presented them to the Council of Ministers, calling for “accuracy in conveying information.”[/size]
[size=45]Mustafa Sanad, a representative affiliated with the coordination framework, revealed what he considered a major violation in the Prime Minister’s Office regarding the restoration of 10 houses (villas) worth 26 billion dinars, and the objection of the Ministries of Planning and Finance to the disbursement of funds.[/size]
[size=45]Sanad commented in his Facebook post in colloquial dialect, saying, “What is wrong with the family? I want the Prime Minister’s Office to leave you with the document that proves the major violation.”[/size]
[size=45]Sanad added, “There are hundreds of state employees who are in prison for violations much less than the violations committed by the office of Prime Minister Muhammad al-Sudani.”[/size]
[size=45]Before that, Sanad published an inquiry about disbursing huge sums of money to renovate presidential homes, stressing that a lobby within the Prime Minister’s Office is pressuring the Ministries of Finance and Planning to disburse the sums.[/size]
[size=45]The Parliament's Integrity Committee had opened an investigation into suspicions of corruption related to the expenses of Iraq's hosting of the Arab Summit in 2012.[/size]
[size=45]The head of the committee at the time, Bahaa Al-Araji, said, “The special projects of the departments and institutions that were party to providing logistical services, furnishing, and construction to prepare for the summit conference are files located in the Integrity Committee.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Araji, a former representative of the Sadrist movement, stated, “We have indications of corruption, but we want to complete the investigation to refer it to the Integrity Commission and then to the judiciary to take legal measures.”[/size]
[size=45]Former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced in a press conference after the end of the summit in Baghdad that the cost of the annual Arab League meetings amounted to about 500 million dollars.[/size]
[size=45]This summit, if held in Baghdad, will be the first after about 13 years of hosting the 2012 summit, and it will be the fourth summit hosted by Iraq, after the 1978, 1990, and 2012 summits.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Sudani had returned a few days ago to Baghdad, after concluding his official visit to the Netherlands and participating in the Munich Security Conference in Germany.[/size]
[size=45]Advisor to the Prime Minister for Security Affairs, Khaled Al-Yaqoubi, confirmed that the Sudanese meetings in Munich reached 26 meetings and were “selected and intense in a precise and sensitive manner.”[/size]
[size=45]The Sudanese seeks to conclude political and economic partnerships with Arab countries and countries around the world, but some parties in the coordination framework are working against that, such as Asaib Ahl al-Haq’s demands to “punish Jordan.”[/size]
[size=45]Hassan Salem, the representative of Asaib, demands that a complaint be filed with the International Court “against Jordan for their participation in the killing of the Iraqi people in Akashat and Al-Qaim.”[/size]
[size=45]Jordan had previously denied its participation in the American strike that targeted the headquarters of the Popular Mobilization Forces, west of Anbar, last month.[/size]
[size=45]Salem said in one of the parliamentary sessions that it was necessary to “cut off oil supplies to Jordan.”[/size]
[size=45]It is believed, according to what is leaking behind the scenes of the parties in the “Frame,” that the reason for the Sudanese not meeting with US President Joe Biden yet is the presence of some Shiite factions and forces within the government against which US sanctions have been issued.[/size]
[size=45]In Munich, Biden's deputy, Camilla Harris, repeated the request for the Prime Minister to visit Washington and meet with the US President, while US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken had previously invited the Sudanese, but all of them were invitations without an appointment.[/size]
[size=45]Ghazi Faisal, director of the Iraqi Center for Strategic Studies, told Al-Mada: It is certain that the meetings held by the Prime Minister in Munich “are among the very important meetings at this complex stage.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, "Foreign policy in Iraq confronts the armed factions that present extreme demands to remove American forces and attack American interests in Iraq and the region, and this constitutes an embarrassment to the government."[/size]
[size=45]Faisal considered Harris's recent invitation to Al-Sudani as "indicating a positive position on Al-Sudani, and Washington certainly appreciates the difficult circumstances facing the Iraqi government and the pressures from the factions and Iran."[/size]
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