Two Lebanese delegations in Baghdad

Well-informed Lebanese sources in the Iraqi capital Baghdad stressed that the speaker of the Lebanese parliament Nabih Berri received an invitation from his Iraqi counterpart Saadoun Hammadi the chairman of the Iraqi national council in the framework of parliamentary relations between the two states. The invitation was conveyed by the Iraqi charge de affairs in Beirut.

The sources indicated that the aim of the invitation is to work for strengthening Lebanese- Iraqi relations, noting that Berri, initially accepted the invitation and the time of the visit will be fixed later. The program of the visit includes meetings with high ranking Iraqi officials and visits to the holy shrines.

Meantime, a Lebanese parliamentary group including five members of the parliament is visiting Baghdad to express their solidarity with Iraq in confrontation of the threats and pressures imposed on it.

Meanwhile a Lebanese delegation including industrialists and businessmen are discussing with Iraqi economic and industrial activists means of revitalizing relations between the two states in respective fields, especially following that the free trade agreement signed between the two states by the beginning of April has been put into actual implementation.

In 2001, the volume of Lebanon's trade relations with Iraq reached USD 400 million. The two sides hope to increase this figure in 2002.