Iraqi interests bureau opens today in Damascus

The Iraqi interest - supervising office will be officially opened today in Damascus under the Algerian flag, in preparation to open an Iraqi embassy in Damascus within months after completing works of renovating it.

Iraqi sources in Damascus said the location of this bureau is in a flat rented by the Iraqi foreign ministry in Abu Rummanneh ( one of the main luxury streets in Damascus), near the UNICEF office, noting that it will supervise the interests of the Iraqis who are residents in Syria and the Syrians in Iraq in the economic and consulate issues.

The bureau is headed by Ghazi Yassin al-Khadeir who has the post of a diplomatic consultant at the Iraqi foreign ministry.

The opening of the bureau falls in the course of rapprochement steps started in May 1977 after a Syrian businessmen delegation inaugurated the opening of borders. It is expected to announce shortly the operating of the Iraqi-Syrian oil pipelines after it had been maintained on both sides.