The coming regional conference in support of Iraq, co-organized by France, will be held at the end of November in Baghdad, Emmanuel Macron announced.

In a speech before French ambassadors gathered at the Elysee Palace, the French President also appeared very cautious about Syria’s rejoining regional bodies and possible progress on the issue of Iran’s nuclear program.

France ought to continue to be involved in the counter-terrorism mission in the Middle East and to strengthen the work it has been conducting in recent years of political and military stability throughout the region, he said.

The third Baghdad Conference – the first was held in the Iraqi capital in August 2021 and the second in Jordan in December 2022 – aims to consolidate a regional agenda in support of Iraqi sovereignty, he recalled.

The aim of the conference is to bring together all of Iraq’s neighboring states, from Saudi Arabia to Iran, which has a strong influence in the region, to pro-Iranian militias, from Lebanon to Syria.

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All the countries in the region want to repeat the talks with Syria, to include it again in the various negotiation and cooperation forums, Macron also underlined.

Any reintegration into regional bodies must presuppose increased cooperation in the fight against terrorist groups and organizations and be accompanied by a political process that allows Syrian refugees to return to their country with guarantees of protection, recognition, and political and economic security, he stressed.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad attended the first Arab League summit in more than a decade in May, returning to the Arab world’s diplomatic stage from which he had been excluded since the war in Syria.

Concerning Iran, Macron expressed satisfaction with the progress made in recent weeks. Tehran has been holding indirect talks with the US to revive the crumbling Iran nuclear deal and the two countries reached an agreement in August to free five US prisoners in Iran.

Source: APA MPA

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