ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The third session of the strategic dialogue between Washington and Baghdad will begin on April 7, according to the US State Department, becoming the first such talks between the two countries since US President Joe Biden took office. “The United States and the Republic of Iraq will hold Strategic Dialogue discussions via video teleconference on April 7th in accordance with the 2008 Strategic Framework Agreement between our two countries,” said the Department’s Press Office for the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs in a tweet. The talks - aimed at bolstering bilateral relations in various sectors - were first held in June and then in August 2020, under the administration of Donald Trump. “The discussions will cover security and counterterrorism, economics and energy, political issues, and educational and cultural cooperation,” added the office. Iraq had issued a request to the US for the resumption of the talks, according to Iraqi officials speaking to the Associated Press (AP). White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement on Tuesday that the talks will begin in April without specifying a day. “This will be an important opportunity to discuss our mutual interests across a range of fields from security to culture, trade, and climate,” she said. “The meetings will further clarify that coalition forces are in Iraq solely for the purpose of training and advising Iraqi forces to ensure that ISIS cannot reconstitute,” she added. The new session of the talks come as the Iraqi government works on a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops, Hussein Allawi, an advisor to Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi confirmed to Rudaw English on Wednesday. “Launching the third phase of the Iraqi-American strategic dialogue is a success for the Iraqi government and the government of President Biden, and it will support democracy and combat terrorism," Allawi said.
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