The Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership will kick off this Saturday, with Arab, regional and international participation. The conference - the first of its kind in Iraq since the country’s isolation for over 18 years – will be attended by senior representatives of nine foreign and regional countries.
Iraqi Special Forces were deployed along the road from Baghdad International Airport to the Green Zone, to maintain the security of the conference, which is being held in light of sharp internal divisions over the elections and regional interference in Iraqi affairs.
Iraqis, who are awaiting the fate of the elections amid great divisions between the leader of the Sadrist movement and his opponents - Al-Fateh Alliance and the State of Law Coalition, are not divided over their country’s hosting of an international conference of this importance. What Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi’s opponents have tried to focus on during the past period is criticizing the government, which invited countries that are not neighboring Iraq, such as Egypt, the Emirates, Qatar, and France, while no invitation was sent to Syria.
Although the agenda of the conference or the issues that will be discussed have not been announced, the Senior Undersecretary of the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nazzal Al-Khairallah, stressed that the summit would focus on Iraq’s stability, sovereignty, and non-interference in its internal affairs.
In this regard, the Dean of the College of Political Science at Al-Mustansiriya University in Baghdad, Dr. Khaled Abdel-Ilah, told Asharq Al-Awsat that Iraq, through this conference “actually took the first step towards restoring its position in the Arab and Islamic environment after losing it completely following the invasion of Kuwait in 1990.”
Abdul-Ilah added that the conference would focus on the sovereignty of Iraq and support for holding early elections, with the strong backing of the international community.
“The second important stage after emphasizing Iraq’s sovereignty and non-interference in its affairs is economy and investment, as the country wants legitimate competition, not a struggle for possession and influence,” he added.
In the same context, Professor of International Media at the Iraqi University, Dr. Fadel Al-Badrany, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the summit’s convening in Baghdad “bears great indications, including that the international parties are convinced of Iraq’s role as a major hub for peacemaking in the region.”
“Baghdad has begun to impose itself as an important political actor under the government of Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, and the intentions he carried for the Arabs and neighboring countries,” Badrany stated.
He continued: “The Iraqi government, through this conference, wanted to tell the big opponents that the game of their conflict in Iraq must end and that there is no stability in the region unless everyone agrees to support the country and stop their disputes within its territory.”
