UN chief on 'solidarity' trip to Iraq, set to visit Kurdistan Region

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived in Baghdad on Tuesday night for talks with senior Iraqi and Kurdish officials, marking his first trip to Iraq in six years.

Guterres said he was paying a “visit of solidarity” during a press briefing at the airport in Baghdad with Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein. His last visit to Iraq was in 2017. 

The UN chief said the visit was aimed at showing "solidarity with the people and the democratic institutions of Iraq and a solidarity that means that the United Nations is totally committed to support the consolidation of the institutions in this country".

Hussein praised the UN mission to Iraq and heralded the importance of Guterres’ visit. 

“Iraqis will be able to overcome the difficulties and challenges they still face through an open and inclusive dialogue”, the UN chief noted. His visit comes months after Iraq emerged from a year-long political crisis as it struggled to form a new government after elections were held in October 2021. 

Despite the political breakthrough, rampant corruption plagues all levels of the Iraqi state while unemployment has been on the rise, adding to an ongoing economic crisis, exacerbated by the political deadlock which has frozen the much-needed 2022 budget. 

Guterres is set to also hold talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, President Abdel Latif Rashid, and parliament speaker Mohammed al-Hablousi. 

On Thursday, he is set to visit the Kurdistan Region’s capital of Erbil for meetings with Kurdish officials.