Iraq
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, left of flag, meets with iraqi caretaker PM Adil Abdul-Mahdi in Baghdad on Saturday, January 18. (Iraqi Prime Minister's office official website)
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq and Jordan are two "basic pillars of security and stability" in the region, Iraq's caretaker Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi told Ayman Safadi, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, in a meeting in Baghdad on Saturday.
"Iraq and Jordan have close and growing relations, and constitute two basic pillars of security and stability in the region and play an important role in containing crises and removing the region from the dangers of wars and conflicts," according to a readout of the meeting published by the office of Iraqi caretaker PM Abdul-Mahdi.
For his part, the Jordanian Foreign Minister Safadi, "expressed his happiness at visiting Iraq and the existing cooperation between the two brotherly countries," according to the readout.
Both sides stressed the need for increased cooperation in all fields "on various issues that concern the interest of the two peoples, security and stability in the region."
"The Jordanian Foreign Minister affirmed that his country supports the efforts of the Iraqi government to preserve the security and stability of Iraq, its national sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity," the statement added.
"Iraq should not be an arena for conflicts," the readout quoted the Jordanian minister as saying.
Iraq has traditionally enjoyed good relations with Jordan.
The two countries signed an agreement in February 2019 in which Iraq lifted tariffs on Jordanian products and Jordan agreed to buy 10,000 barrels of oil per day from Iraq.
Iraq, Jordan and Egypt reached a trilateral agreement in August of last year on closer economic, military, and political coordination, hoping to demonstrate an "exceptional" example of cooperation between Middle Eastern countries.
In today's meeting, the Jordanian minister praised Iraq's success in abiding by the trilateral agreement as a result of continued coordination and cooperation between the three countries.
The two countries share a 179-kilometre (111-mile) border, and Jordan is a major importer of Iraqi crude oil.
In 2013, the two governments decided to build a 1,700-kilometre pipeline linking Iraq's oil-rich Basra province to Jordan's Aqaba port, but the Islamic State (ISIS) group's 2014 conquest of large areas of Iraqi territory halted the plan.
Last year Jordan approved a framework to revive the pipeline project, but has not given a time-frame for construction.
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