Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani met, on Friday evening, with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, at the organization’s headquarters in New York, on the sidelines of his participation in the meetings of the United Nations General Assembly at its seventy-eighth session.

During the meeting, Iraq's relations with the United Nations and its institutions were reviewed in various fields, and the strengthening of its efforts regarding many priority issues and files, and mechanisms for continuous coordination with international institutions in implementing development and humanitarian programs and projects in a number of Iraqi cities.

The Prime Minister praised the role of the United Nations and its institutions in supporting Iraq, and its efforts to promote stability and societal peace, referring to the visit made by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Baghdad last March, which constituted a turning point towards raising the level of cooperation, and an opportunity to stimulate international work in Iraq.

Al-Sudani also stressed constructive cooperation with the organization to implement the priorities of the government program, with regard to programs to combat poverty, and find solutions to confront drought and desertification and mitigate their effects.

For his part, the Secretary-General of the United Nations affirmed his support for the efforts of the Iraqi government in implementing its development programs and plans, pointing to Iraq’s pivotal role and its adoption of a policy of dialogue and bringing different points of view closer together, as a bridge of communication and rapprochement among the countries of the region.

He also expressed the support of the United Nations and its sharing of Iraq's call for international cooperation to confront the serious environmental challenges and the effects of drought and climate changes that the region and the world are witnessing.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency