Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki arrived yesterday in Cairo for two days of meetings with Egyptian officials.
On his first day in Cairo, Al-Maliki met with his Egyptian counterpart Ahmad Nazif, and promised him that Egyptian investment companies would be given priority for investment in Iraq. He also promised cooperation in trade, the implementation of the strategic pact between the two countries, and settling the claims by Egyptians whose salaries were severed by the Saddam regime during the invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The outstanding claims are estimated at half a billion dollars.
Al-Maliki said nothing about the Iranian incursion into Iraq, but Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who met with Iranian Majlis speaker Ali Larijani (see Larijani Meets With Egyptian Regime Heads In Cairo), told him that Iran should not interfere in Iraq's internal affairs and should respect its sovereign "amidst the silence of Iraqi officials about the incursion of Iranian forces into Iraq and the occupation of one of its oil fields."
Source: Al-Zaman, Iraq, December 21, 2009
