(Hina) - Croatia's First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Vesna Pusić, met with Iraqi President Fuad Masum in Baghdad on Monday for talks on bilateral cooperation and the fight against terrorism.
"I am confident that our two countries will cooperate in areas from industry to energy," President Masum was quoted as saying. He also spoke of the security situation in Iraq, the fight against Islamic State and government efforts to achieve reconciliation within society.
Minister Pusić said that because of its recent past Croatia fully understood the situation in Iraq, adding that "Iraq is on the first line of defence, not just of its own land but of Europe too." She reiterated that many Croatian companies were interested in doing business in Iraq, notably in projects relating to electrification, the food and defence industries, and energy.
Minister Pusić said that both countries believed that education was the key to development, so she offered scholarships for young diplomats in a postgraduate program in diplomacy. The program was launched last year as a joint project of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and the University of Zagreb.
Later in the day, Minister Pusić is scheduled to meet with Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi, Interior Minister Mohammed Salim al-Ghabban and Minister for Women's Affairs Bayan Nouri, after which she travels to Erbil to meet with regional Kurdish government officials.
Minister announced that her talks with the ministers of defence and the interior would focus on projects relating to providing equipment and assistance to Iraqi security forces. "A number of Croatian companies are participating or are interested in participating by providing footwear and clothing as well as training in defence organisation, and I hope that in that regard we will get closer to finalising some of the already initiated negotiations on cooperation in joint projects," she said after meeting the Iraqi president.
Speaking of the fight against terrorism, Minister Pusić said that terrorism now mostly threatened Iraq and Syria, but that no country in the world was safe from this global threat, which is why a global anti-terrorist coalition had been formed.