New york: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fuad Hussein, met today with Dr. Rola Dashti, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of ESCWA, at the headquarters of the Iraqi Mission to the United Nations in New York, on the sidelines of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly.

According to National Iraqi News Agency, Dr. Dashti praised Iraq’s role in promoting security and stability in the region and presented an overview of ESCWA’s plans. She also commended Iraq’s efforts in adopting a development roadmap during the Arab Summit in Baghdad, noting Iraq’s historic role in strengthening Arab cooperation.

She expressed her organization’s aspiration to work with Iraqi institutions and activate economic diplomacy in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She also noted that a training workshop will be held on January 15th, stressing that ESCWA is working to provide Iraq with global economic indicators and develop a governorate competitiveness index to measure successes and challenges.

For his part, during the meeting, the Minister expressed his thanks to Dr. Rola Dashti for her ideas and joint efforts with Iraqi authorities. He praised the proposals related to economic diplomacy, emphasizing that this field requires clear ideas and solid foundations. He pointed out that the improvement of the security situation in Iraq contributes to encouraging investment, indicating that economic development cannot be achieved without openness to the outside world and the utilization of modern ideas, technologies, and visions.

He also affirmed the readiness of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministerial Economic Council to cooperate with ESCWA and facilitate its work to serve development in Iraq.