UN chief visits Iraq for first time in six years

After a protracted political crisis in the nation, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made his first trip to Iraq in six years on Tuesday.

Guterres said he wanted to demonstrate “solidarity with the people and the democratic institutions of Iraq and a solidarity that means that the United Nations is totally committed to support the consolidation of the institutions in this country”.

Additionally, he stated that he was “confident that through an inclusive and open discourse, Iraqis will be able to surmount the difficulties and challenges they still face.”

Having arrived in Baghdad overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, Guterres is scheduled to meet with the prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, as well as leaders of youth and women’s rights organizations, on Wednesday.

He will travel to a shelter for refugees in the country’s north on Thursday before traveling to Erbil to meet with officials from the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government.

He last came to the nation in the spring of 2017.

The meeting of the Least Developed Countries will be held in Qatar, where he will then continue his journey.

This article has been posted by a News Hour Correspondent. For queries, please contact through [email protected]
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