Support for Iraq’s timely achievement of the “status of autonomous and constructive player” in the region and the “structural development” of Italy’s participation in the economic and institutional reconstruction there. These are the two main aims of Italian foreign policy in Iraq, which now need strengthening. This was Minister Frattini’s comment as he opened the first Italy-Iraq Joint Commission, which met at the foreign ministry in Rome on 14 and 15 December 2009. A “highly significant” event as it represented the first concrete sign of the recent entrance into effect of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership signed in 2007: the “best way to strengthen the two nations’ already excellent relations”, the Minister underscored.
Iraq has “everything it needs” to pay a “constructive” role on a regional level, and to “contribute to peace” in the Middle East and resolving the “Iranian question”. Then there are relations with the Gulf countries, a “third shore” of the Mediterranean and essential to regional stability. Signs of Iraq’s new “international profile” are also visible in its relations with the EU with the conclusion of negotiations for a Partnership Agreement.
Italy supports the country’s reconstruction in various aspects: with regard to capacity building the minister mentioned the training of government officials, the sectors of public security, historic/artistic conservation as well as diplomacy. Additionally, a credit line of up to 400 million euro was opened up in order to help “overcome the obstacles impeding the country’s broader economic development”.
Precisely on the economic front the Iraqi market “represents an opportunity not to be underestimated on the basis of the country’s stabilisation problems”. Italy is Iraq’s top importer among EU countries, but there is a “marked trade imbalance in Iraq’s favour, given our massive oil imports”. The Joint Commission offered the opportunity to do better, by placing Iraqi institutions in dialogue with Italian businesses wanting to invest in that country. From this point of view, Minister Frattini pointed out, the investment protection agreement “is proof of how concerned Minister Zebari and I are with nurturing economic relations”.