PUTRAJAYA, Aug 23 — Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir will undertake his maiden official visit to Iraq from Wednesday (August 23) to Friday (August 25) at the invitation of his counterpart, Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister for International Relations Affairs and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Fuad Hussein.

During the visit, Zambry is expected to pay a courtesy call on the Iraqi leaders hold a bilateral meeting with Fuad to follow up on the discussion held on the sidelines of the Ministerial Meeting of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) on July 5, 2023.

"The meeting will provide an excellent opportunity for Malaysia to further strengthen its long-standing bilateral relations with Iraq as well as to explore new areas of cooperation of mutual interest,” said a statement from Malaysian foreign ministry (Wisma Putra) on Wednesday.

Zambry will also take the opportunity to have a session with the Iraqi business community to explore the economic potential between the two countries, added the statement.

Zambry’s visit to Iraq marks his first official trip to the republic since assuming office on Dec 2, 2022. He will be accompanied by senior government officials from his ministry and business delegations.

Iraq remains Malaysia’s sixth largest trading partner and the seventh largest source of imports among the West Asian countries.

The total trade in 2022 was valued at RM4.68 billion (US$1.07 billion), an increase of 24.3 per cent compared to RM3.76 billion (US$0.91 billion) in 2021. — Bernama