Macron: Al-Sudani’s participation in the “Baghdad 2” conference is a victory, and Iraq needs to get

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[size=52]Macron: Al-Sudani’s participation in the “Baghdad 2” conference is a victory, and Iraq needs to get out of Iranian dependence[/size]

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2022-12-23[/size]
[size=45]French President Emmanuel Macron described the acceptance of Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani at the “Baghdad 2” conference that was held in Jordan last Tuesday as a “victory for the regional agenda” that aims to reduce Iranian influence on Iraq, expressing his opinion that Iraq needs to get out of Iranian dependence. And oil, and that this takes a long time.[/size]
[size=45]This came in an interview he conducted with the Lebanese newspaper, An-Nahar, and published it in its issue issued today, Friday.[/size]
[size=45]Macron said, "From the beginning, I am convinced that we cannot find any solution to the problems of Lebanon, Iraq and Syria, except within the framework of dialogue to reduce Iranian regional influence."[/size]
[size=45]"The Iranians have not sincerely committed themselves," he added. We have seen, starting in 2019 and 2020, that the Prime Minister of the former Iraqi government, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, shows a desire to advance work. On this basis, we developed, starting from 2020, a strategy with former President Barham Salih and Al-Kazemi aimed at helping them to strengthen the sovereignty of Iraq. And they told us about strengthening this sovereignty: “We need economic support in order to strengthen sovereignty with Iran at the conference table. And helping us to create solutions based on huge energy projects helps us to get involved in the regional game that allows us to dialogue with Iran, but not with Iran alone.[/size]
[size=45]And he added, "This is the agenda that we have created since September 2020, when I visited Iraq again, and then in August 2021, when we held the" Baghdad 1" conference. It is a long bilateral work through which we help the Iraqis to improve their security and strengthen our presence in Iraq through our projects in the energy and gas sector. In “Baghdad 1”, for the first time, we gathered at the table the Iranians, the Turks, the Gulf states, and the Jordanians. Dialogue has meaning, and side talks are more important than official ones, because it creates a framework for dialogue with these countries and research on how to restore Iraq’s sovereignty and reduce external influence in it.[/size]
[size=45]"We have improved a lot, and in any case we avoided the worst, as we enabled energy projects and financed some electrical interconnection projects with Jordan, and we maintained stability," the French president said.[/size]
[size=45]According to Macron, “Last summer, they witnessed great danger, and he spent a lot of time with Iraqi officials on the phone to try to avoid an escalation of the situation. Then came the Iraqi Sudanese prime minister, who is supported by a majority known to be closer to the Iranians. When the Jordanian monarch visited me in September in Paris, I convinced him of the necessity of holding this conference, because it is in the interest of all of us, as King Abdullah is taking a risk. We have exchanged many phone calls over the past weeks with the Sudanese Prime Minister.[/size]
[size=45]And he added, “For me, if we did not gather this conference, the danger would have been that Iraq would move away from the regional agenda. With this framework we make it possible to find alternatives. A Sudanese acceptance of this conference is a victory for this agenda, and for this conference to be held well is a victory, just as the beginning of putting projects on the track is a victory.”[/size]
[size=45]The French President also said, "Then we held a meeting in a small framework without the Turks and the Iranians, and we began to lay out lines of action starting from next month."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that “there are vital projects for Iraq in water, electricity, gas and economic development. We can help them and they have needs to get out of Iranian and oil dependency. This will not be solved in one day.”[/size]
[size=45]The “Baghdad 2” conference was held last Tuesday at the King Hussein bin Talal Convention Center on the Dead Sea coast, after a first session that was held in the Iraqi capital in August 2021 at the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron and Iraq.[/size]
[size=45]The conference was attended by French President Emmanuel Macron, Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani, Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, European Union foreign policy official Josep Borrell, who coordinates the Vienna negotiations on the Iranian nuclear file, and European Union coordinator for these talks, Enrique Mora. .[/size]
[size=45]Also, the foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia, the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, the Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council and a number of other Arab foreign ministers participated in the conference.[/size]
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