TEHRAN — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has been invited to a planned regional summit in Baghdad, Raisi’s office said on Tuesday.

The invitation was officially delivered by Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, a day after Baghdad announced the summit set for later this month.

French President Emmanuel Macron has confirmed he plans to attend, while Iraq has said Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman have also been invited.

The invitations have been delivered on behalf of Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi.

Prime Minister al-Kadhimi appointed a committee, headed by Senior Undersecretary Nizar Al-Khairallah, to work on preparations for the summit, which sources said will be held in Baghdad at the end of August or the beginning of September and bring together representatives from Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Jordan, in addition to Syrian officials and representatives of the European Union.

Al-Kadhimi recently told a group of journalists in Washington that Iraq will seek to play a bigger role in bringing regional powers together.

The office of the president did not confirm whether Raisi would accept the invitation, but a statement after his meeting with Hussein quoted him welcoming the Iraqi initiative.

“Cooperation between the region’s countries without foreign interference is the necessary condition for stable security in the region,” Raisi said in the meeting, according to the presidential media office.

The Islamic Republic considers the interference of foreigners in the affairs of the region as a source of tension and threats, just as it considers dialogue between the regional countries to resolve issues as a groundwork for building security and creating stability, Raisi noted. 

"Cooperation and synergy among the countries of the region, without the intervention of foreigners, are a necessary condition for the stability of regional security, as well as the establishment of peace in the countries of the region and the provision of welfare for the nations of the region," the new Iranian president asserted.

In the meeting, Raisi also said Iran has always been concerned about resolving problems in Iraq.

"Iran considers the growth and development of Iraq as its own growth and development," the president remarked.

Hussein who visited Tehran on Tuesday met outgoing Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council prior to his meeting with President Raisi.

SA/PA