Fars News
June 5, 2008
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki will make an official visit to Iran on Saturday to strengthen relations between the two countries.
The visit was confirmed by Maliki's media adviser, Yassin Maguid, who did not reveal any details. This is al-Maliki's second visit to Tehran after he travelled to Iran in August last year.
From Tehran, the Iraqi prime minister will return to Baghdad and then go on to Jordan on an official visit to meet Jordanian King Abdullah and to strengthen relations with the government in Amman.
The agenda for the talks could not be confirmed but Ali al-Dabbagh, an Iraqi government spokesman said "all issues will be on the table."
Increased supply of electricity by Iran will reportedly be top on the agenda of talks between Maliki and Iranian officials.
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"During his upcoming visit to Tehran, al-Maliki will be accompanied by Electricity Minister Karim Waheed and will request Iran to provide the country with more electricity," Iraq's ambassador to Tehran, Mohammad Majid Abbas al-Sheikh, told reporters on Monday.
Iran is currently building a 250-megawatt power plant in Baghdad's Sadr City and plans to build other plants in the cities of Najaf and Karbala.
Both sides have already reached an agreement to increase Iran's electricity export to Iraq by 300 megawatts, the ambassador added.
According to the Iraqi official, the Islamic Republic currently exports 470 megawatts of electricity to Iraq.
Al-Maliki's visit to Tehran comes a few days after Iraq's vice-president Abdel Adel Mahdi travelled to Iran and met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Speaker of the Iranian parliament Ali Larijani and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.
Ahmadinejad travelled to Baghdad in March this year, in the first visit by an Iranian president to Iraq since 1979.
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:: Article nr. 44623 sent on 06-jun-2008 03:22 ECT
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