French President Emmanuel Macron will participate in a “regional conference” in Baghdad in late August to which several leaders of Iraq’s neighboring countries, including Saudi Arabia and Turkey, have been invited, the Iraqi prime minister’s office announced on Monday.
In a telephone conversation with Mustafa al-Kazimi, Emmanuel Macron “confirmed his aspiration to return to Iraq and attend the conference,” less than a year after a first visit, the services of the head of the Iraqi government said in a statement. .
The French head of state “welcomed Iraqi diplomacy as balanced diplomacy,” he further assured.
Neither the exact date nor the full list of participants in this conference has yet been released, but Iraqi diplomacy has announced that it has sent invitations to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and King Salman of Saudi Arabia, both leaders of the pillar countries of the regional diplomacy.
On the other hand, Baghdad did not say a word about a possible presence of the new Iranian president Ebrahim Raïssi whose country, sworn enemy of Saudi Arabia and the United States, weighs with all its weight in Iraq.
Iraq, where early legislative elections will be held on October 10, has been trying to establish itself as an essential mediator in the region since it militarily defeated the Islamic State group jihadists in late 2017.
In recent months, the country has hosted meetings between Saudi and Iranian officials to discuss a thaw in their relations, which was interrupted in 2016.
An appeasement between Tehran and Riyadh would greatly benefit Iraq: very regularly rockets or bombs by pro-Iranian groups cause damage, a card of the militia that Tehran plays in every negotiation with Baghdad, according to Iraqi officials.