Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi left on Friday for a three-day visit to Iraq on the invitation of his Iraqi counterpart, Fuad Hussein, said a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During the visit, the foreign minister will hold detailed discussions on bilateral cooperation, besides reviewing cooperation between Iraq and Pakistan in multilateral organisations, particularly the United Nations, its subsidiary organisations and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, according to the statement.

The foreign minister will also exchange views on problems of the Muslim world and global and regional issues of mutual interest.

Qureshi will call on the leadership of Iraq and discuss bilateral matters with Iraqi ministers, especially issues pertaining to the management and wellbeing of thousands of Pakistani Zaireen who visit sacred sites in Iraq every year.

According to the statement, the foreign minister’s visit has come against the backdrop of “a number of ministerial-level visits from both sides in the past few months, which signify the importance accorded by both countries to augmenting bilateral relationship for mutual benefit”.

“The visit is expected to add further momentum to the positive trajectory of brotherly ties between Pakistan and Iraq,” the statement read.

It further stated that Pakistan and Iraq had long-standing fraternal ties “rooted in shared faith, values and culture” and bilateral relations between the two countries benefited from shared understanding and similarity of views on a number of regional and global issues.

“The two countries continue to collaborate closely to enhance bilateral cooperation in diverse fields.”

The statement also referred to an agreement signed between Pakistan and Iraq’s Foreign Service Academies in April this year as an example of growing cooperation between the two countries.

Prior to that, President Dr Arif Alvi had offered training courses for the Iraqi military personnel in the defence training institutes of Pakistan.

During a meeting with an Iraqi delegation led by Defence Minister Juma Enad Sadoon Khattab Al Jibori at Aiwan-i-Sadr in February, the president had emphasised that both the countries needed to support each other at all international forums. He had said Pakistan attached great importance to the mutually beneficial relations with Iraq and wanted to further strengthen bilateral relations in the areas of trade, economy and defence.

Iraqi Defence Minister Saadoon had also met Qureshi during the visit and discussed the overall situation in the region. Both the ministers had reaffirmed the mutual desire to further promote and solidify existing bilateral relations.

Qureshi had underscored the importance accorded by Pakistan to its fraternal ties with Iraq and stressed the need for frequent high-level exchanges between the two countries.