Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, Syed Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari, paid a visit to Baghdad on 23 January 2019. This was the first high level visit from Pakistan to Iraq since the coming into power of PTI government as well as formation of new government in Iraq.
During the visit, the special assistant to the Prime Minister called on Iraqi President Dr Barham Salih and held a detailed meeting with his counterpart Dr Basam Al-Zaman Majeed Al-Rubaei, Minister of Labour of the Republic of Iraq. During these meetings, the two sides discussed ways and means to further strengthen bilateral cooperation for the mutual benefit of the two people.
The special assistant also expressed keen interest of the Pakistani companies to invest in the reconstruction activities of Iraq and implementation of measures for ease of doing business especially relaxing visa regime for Pakistani businessmen.
The Special Assistant further stressed the need for early finalization of the MoU to meet Iraq's manpower demand and capacity building needs. On his part, Iraq's Minister of Labour expressed his willingness to mutually work towards this end. The Special Assistant also called on His Eminence, Ammar Al-Hakim, the leader of Al-Hikma party.