 Good afternoon and welcome. My name is Lisa Grande, and I am the head of the United States Institute of Peace, which was established by the U.S. Congress in 1984 as a national public, nonpartisan institution dedicated to helping prevent, mitigate, and resolve violent conflict abroad. We are honored at USIP to extend a very warm welcome to His Excellency, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Iraq, Dr. Farad Hussein. We also wish to express our gratitude to His Excellency, the Charger de Ferre, Dr. Salwan Sinjiri, and the team at the Embassy of Iraq and Washington for their partnership in support of today's discussion. This year marks 20 years since Iraq embarked on a process of transition toward democracy, a time that has had high moments and many challenges. In October of last year, Iraq ushered in a new government under His Excellency, Prime Minister Mohammad Shia El-Sudani, that has an opportunity to set a path for continuing positive change. Your Excellency, we look forward this afternoon to your thoughts and to your guidance on the priorities of Iraq's new government, including your commitment to strengthening governance, developing the economy, combating climate change, and countering the threat of possible ISIL resurgence. USIP is very proud to have been working on the ground in Iraq in close collaboration with the government and civil society these past 20 years. And Excellency, if you allow, we hope to stay for another 20. It is now my distinct privilege to introduce His Excellency, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hussein. Prior to his current appointment, His Excellency served with distinction as the Minister of Finance from 2018 to 2020. His Excellency is a distinguished Iraqi leader, having held executive positions in both the Iraqi Federal and Kurdistan Regional Governments. He has served as the Chief of Staff of the Kurdistan Regional Presidency and as a member of the Cabinet in the Kurdistan Regional Government. His Excellency was an alternate member of the Iraqi Government Council in 2004 and a very distinguished official in the Ministry of Education. Excellency, it's a pleasure to host you again at the United States Institute of Peace and with your permission, may we invite you to the floor. May I take this notes, book? So, good afternoon everybody. Thank you very much for having me here and for having so many friends I see. Really, I am delighted to see so many friends in this meeting, in this gathering. It is a while ago and I am happy to be here to discuss some issues with you. And thank you for your organizations, being in Iraq and being active in Iraq. And we will continue our cooperation. We will continue our cooperation because what you are doing is great. Ladies and gentlemen, we are here each time to talk about and to discuss matters related to the ties, the relationships between Washington and Baghdad. Of course, if we are going back to the diplomatic ties, it goes back to history between Baghdad and Washington. But my generation and many others who are sitting here, we started before 2003. We were part of the opposition fighting the dictatorship. And we were searching, going around the world, telling our stories. Some people, they were listening to us. Others, they were ignoring. Sometimes we were demanding and, of course, most of the time they were rejecting our demands. We were knocking all the doors. I remember I came here in 1992 to Washington D.C. I knocked the doors in the State Department. It was good somebody received us and they listened to us. We were talking about the genocide in Iraq, what happened in Iraq, violation of human rights. We were talking about the suffering of Iraqi people then. But there were few listening to us. After the invasion in Kuwait, many countries, many politicians, many governments, many leaders, many intellectuals, media, they were ready to listen. Perhaps the Kuwaitis, they were managing their cases better than the Iraqis who were in opposition. How about that gift? Give us the chances to talk about the suffering of Iraqi people. Iraq was also under embargo. Iraqi people, they were suffering. And I am talking about this because some people now when they see problems in the Iraqi society, issues related to economy, issues related to politics, they are comparing it with the past. But those who have seen the past and they were part of the past, they know this comparison is wrong. We were not free then. We couldn't think. Even thinking was not allowed. And thank God we became free because the dictatorship has been removed with your support, with the support of the American people and many other nations. And we were dreaming to build a democratic society, a free society. And we were, of course, expecting that many other nations will help us. Take it easy. Mr. Ambassador, you are welcome. The process of democracy started in 2003. But to be frank with you, there were many mistakes. So the question is not about changing the regime. The question was when we are thinking about 20 years ago because we are approaching the date of the change of the regime. And it was 20 years ago. The question was not about changing the regime in the beginning. And then after 2003 it was about actually the mistakes that we did, the mistakes that the Americans did, the political leadership in Iraq did. We made many mistakes. But also changing the regime affected the whole area, the whole Middle East area. So there were resistance against this process, this change. The resistance and rejecting the process of change, there was also the area, the whole region. They were against this change. So they started to intervene in Iraqi internal affairs. And of course, the American army was not there in the beginning as the armies of other countries under the umbrella of a resolution from Security Council. So that created also a legal problem for Iraqi people, but also for the Americans. When the Americans, at the end, called themselves or Security Council called the Americans as an occupation forces, then it was difficult. It became a problem. It started as a solution, but it became a problem, a problem for the Iraqis, but also a problem for the American. Occupation force or forces is difficult to accept. It's difficult to recognize it. And from then, problems started. But also the terrorists, they were very active against this process, process of having a new system, democratic system, freedom in Iraq. Al Qaeda started and led to other terrorist groups. And then it became ISIS. So after the change, Iraq was once again, as before, engaged in fight. Before there was, there were, in various stages, internal fights and external wars. And now, once again, Iraqi government, Iraqi people, they were facing a new challenge, and that was the fight against Al Qaeda and later on against ISIS. Being in fighting, in the fight against various groups and having wars with various countries, destroyed the infrastructure. The economic infrastructure in Iraq has been totally destroyed. Imagine for 50 years, a society being in war. What does it mean? Even the values which existed in the society, religious value, political value, tribal values, has been damaged, as well as economic infrastructure has been damaged. Schools, education has been destroyed. I remember when I was supervising Ministry of Education in 2003, 2004, I was going around the country. But in Baghdad, and then in Baghdad, if you talk about Baghdad, you have got Kargh and Rasafah. Kargh was more, at that time, more developed than Rasafah. I was going to the schools. The building has been destroyed. The education was not there. So that was Baghdad. What about small towns, villages? So education has been destroyed. Healthcare has been destroyed. Economy has been destroyed. Social life, in fact, has been destroyed. And then after 2003, a new government. But the new government was forcing, as I said, the fights against Al Qaeda first and then ISIS. In 2014, it was possible for ISIS to control one-third of the country. They reached, in fact, south of Baghdad, and they were threatening the airport. And they reached Mahmour in Erbil. So two capitals. The capital of the country and capital of the region was under threat of ISIS. And we were there. So many nations came to help us. And the United States, once again, was there. Together, we were fighting with many other countries around the world, but also some neighboring countries. We were able to defeat the so-called Islamic states of ISIS. And then after 2017, for the first time, Iraq was, let's say, the security in Iraq was there and peaceful. We could enjoy peace in Iraq. This is 2017. But financially, there were many damages because wars and fighting affected the infrastructure. It affected also the financial system. The Iraqi economy and Iraqi income is depending heavily on one sector. And that's the oil sector. In fact, 88% to 90% of the income is coming from oil. So when the price of oil is going high, then financially, you are in a good shape. When it goes down, then you have got a lot of problems. That happens during the fight against ISIS. And that happened also in 2020 when we were suffering all from COVID-19. And as a result of the COVID, but also as a result of quarrel between OPEC and members of OPEC Plus, the price of oil went down to $20. This is the beginning of 2020. So once again, we started suffering because of this, the low oil process. Now we have got a new government. I wanted to mention this history, because many of us, they are dealing only with today. Their problems has not to do only with today. The problem has got roots. Roots in the political system, roots in the economy, roots in the social system in Iraq, roots because of the wars, different kinds of wars. However, now the situation is completely different. First, security-wise, it's going well. The terrorists, they are not anymore that threat to Iraqi society, neither to Iraqi political system. They are there, here and there. Sometimes they are attacking an area. Sometimes they are killing some officers. But they are not a threat to the society as such. Still, we must be careful about that. We must be aware, because it is not only about the fighters. It is about the ideology. This ideology produces fighters. So how to defeat the ideology, that's a different question. To defeat a terrorist is easier than to defeat the ideology. But we need to work hard. We need an intellectual attack to defeat this ideology, which is dangerous for the humanity, but it's also dangerous for the political system. So security-wise, it's going well. For a while in Baghdad, there were 20 attacks in one day. But now it's different. Allow me to say something about democratic process. We Iraqis, those who studied the history and followed the political changes in Iraq, we see that almost until 2003, all Iraqi leaders has been killed, all of them, has been killed. Well, the Pope visited Baghdad and Iraq. The president of Iraq then invited His Holiness and with former prime ministers. I was looking just. There were six prime ministers, former prime ministers, sitting there. And I felt happy, because this is the first time I see that the leaders of Iraq, they were leaders. They were prime ministers. And they are still in life. And they are there. This is changing the culture, changing the political culture. I felt more free. I thought, we must be satisfied with what happens. The old generation who fought against dictatorship, they felt different, I may say, than the new generation. I expect the new generation, of course. They are comparing their situation not with the past. They are comparing the situation, and they have access to social media with young people in Sweden, with young people in the United States, in France, in Germany. So the comparison is different for them. Well, we old generation, we compare the situation with the past. And we are happy with this freedom. However, do we have problems? Political problems, the answer is yes. Do we have shortages? The answer is yes. Is our democracy good? The answer is that we have good sides of our political system, but also many bad sides. Is there corruption? The answer is yes. All these problems and others, we have it. But at the same time, we have got a plan. We are discussing this. This government has been formed after one and a half year or one year, actually. Right, Kakbilal? After one year of having caretaker government, and I was part of caretaker government, the other government, Mr. Adil Abdul Mahdi's government, so I was in all these cabinets. I can compare it. Compare this government with the others. In the first place, this government was born after lengthy discussions among the political parties and political leaders. Almost all Shia political parties, except Sadri's, are included in this government. Almost all Sunni political parties, except some small organizations, they are included in this government. The main two Kurdish political parties, Kurdistan Neuropathic Party and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan are included in this government. So it is a government of coalition, coalition of all these political parties. And from various components, so you have got the Shia, the Sunni, and the Kurds, and the Christian, by the way. But this government is also depending on a clear program, which has been written by all these political parties. We were negotiating for months to reach an agreement to form. And when we reach this agreement, and the government has been formed, the government translated the political agreement into political or government program. So there is a program. And there is timetable, and there are priorities in the program. And at the same time, there is follow up by the political leaders. Once in a week or once in two weeks, we have meetings discussing the general lines of the work of the government and the prime minister and the speaker of the parliament is part of that meeting. So we have got the mechanism or the tools to help the government, in this case, to help the prime minister. And this government has got, as a result of this coalition, support of about 280 members of the parliament. So we have got 329. But 280 members of the parliament are members of those political parties. And they are in the government, so that means the government has got powerful support in the parliament. We are here to talk about these subjects, but also to strengthen our relationship with the United States. Perhaps there are some voices. This is democracy, as you have got some voices in the Congress against the United States. Yes. But in general, this is the strategy of this government to strengthen the relationship with other countries, including United States, and to have a balanced ties with neighboring countries and try to express the foreign policy and try to formulate the foreign policy on the basis of Iraqi interests, which has to do with the security, economy, politics, and a strategical relationship. We had good meetings here, and we are going to have more meetings. The main topics this time was about the economy, financial system, about energy. And when we are talking about energy, we are talking about oil, gas, electricity, as well as politics in the region. Our delegation is very much satisfied with the talks that we had, and we feel that. And we feel it, we see it, we hear it. There is a lot of support for Iraq, and a lot of support for Iraqi government and for the process of democracy in Iraq. I am glad to be here and to discuss these topics and these subjects with you all. And once again, really, I am happy to see so many friends in this place. Thank you very much for inviting me. I didn't use this. Thank you. Thank you very much. Well, thank you, Your Excellency. This was great. Good afternoon to you, those who are here, and good evening to those who are joining us from Iraq and overseas. Oh, from Iraq. Yeah, this is live streamed, so we have audience watching. Well, thank you. It's an honor to be here on the stage with His Excellency Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Fuat Hussain. My name is Saran Hamasahid. I'm Director of Middle East Programs here at USIP. We have really the pleasure of hosting Dr. Hussain back here at USIP, and it's an honor. You've covered a wide range of grounds, and I'm really glad that you situated us not only in 20 years of change, but also 30 years of change. And in that context, I think it is important for the sake of the conversation and the time that we have remaining in the next half hour or so. I hope that we can cover as much ground as possible. There are a number of important topics that we'd like to discuss, and there is the priority of the government. There is the purpose of the visit and the outcome of this visit, but also over the longer term, where Iraq has gone, progressed, and where it can go in the future. I have a few questions that I'll start with, but for our audience and for those who are watching online, please feel free to join us through asking questions. Those in the room have received question cards, and my colleagues will be collecting them and relaying them to me. For those who are watching us and joining us online, you can put questions in the question box under the live stream on the USIP web page. For those who are watching us live on Facebook, you can post your comments and questions there. And those who are watching us and joining us via Twitter, you can use the hashtag Iraq USIP, and we'll get to your questions, hopefully. So your Excellency, I've been looking at some of your recent interviews, and I like how you put your remarks in the various engagements about how Iraq is now and this government is conducting its business and pursuing its priorities in a time of important changes inside Iraq, important changes in the region, and important changes in the global stage. And I hope that we can cover some angles there, and you've already given us quite a good baseline to build upon. So if we actually focus on the purpose of the current visit, it is a refreshing that's probably for the first time that nobody's chasing you and saying, are troops staying or not staying? The focus is on other areas of cooperation between the United States and Iraq. And as you were coming, the Iraqi people were nervous and looking forward to the results of your visit in terms of what will that do to what was a situation of rapidly and volatility changing value of the Iraqi DNR. I promise you I'll not take you through the mechanics of that promise, but as you are wrapping up some of your meetings this week, can you share us a little bit more specifics in terms of what the visit has achieved in this collaboration? You already mentioned this has been positive and the delegation is satisfied. Can you share more with us in terms of the specifics of the outcomes of those meetings? Once again, thank you very much for having me here and for your question. You see, we are still planning to have more meetings here, so we are not yet finished. But talking about the meetings that we had, I must say we felt, I'm talking about our delegation, that there is a big understanding and support to what we have done in Iraq and what this government has done. And as the question related to monetary policy, the implementation of the regulations of the central bank has been in contact and cooperation with the treasury and with the federal bank. In fact, what happened a few weeks ago had to do with the system which has been implemented by the central bank. It has been implemented on the basis of an agreement with the treasury. And protecting the process of dealing with the dollars and Iraqi currency, Dina. And at the end, I think it is in the benefit of the Iraqi financial system and Iraqi economy. And we have seen it after a while, a short, we had for a period of perhaps two weeks or 10 days kind of currency crisis, but now it's finished. I think this support and understanding from American government side politically, but also understanding the measures that has been taken by Iraqi government and supporting that affected the currency market inside Iraq. So I think we are now in different stage than two weeks ago. And we passed that stage. That doesn't mean we don't have some problems which has to do with the area itself. I mean, when I'm talking about the area, I mean countries surrounding us. It is obvious that because of the war and because of the high price of oil and because of the inflations many societies, especially societies surrounding us, surrounding Iraq, are suffering. So when you have a market and when dollar has been used in the market, of course, there will be some people, they are trying to get dollars from Iraqi market, but at the same time, we must be clear. Iraqi country, as I said, the Iraqi economy is depending heavily on oil. So that means we are importing almost everything else. So we are importing almost everything else Iraqi society is consuming, is a consuming society because we are consuming every kind of products that we buy from other countries and we don't produce. That means agriculture products, industry products, medicine, almost everything, we are buying it. And when we are talking about buying all these products and importing all these products, we need dollar. So we use dollar in our trade, we use dollar. So we need dollar. So some people, they are thinking the dollars which is coming from here to Iraqi market is disappearing. Of course, it's disappearing because we are buying. We have trade relationship with China, we have trade relationship with Turkey, we have trade relations with Iran, we have trade relations with Europe, we have trade relations with the United States, with many other countries. Of course, with all these countries, when we buy, we pay and we pay in dollars. So dollars has been used for Iraqi economy in principle. Not dollar has been, let's say smuggled not other countries because really this is painful for Iraqi people and Iraqi government to talk only about smuggling dollars. There are, of course, some people, they are smuggling dollars. As they are smuggling all many other products. At the end, dollar is a product. When it comes to the market, so some people, they are buying it, some people, they are selling it. But dollar in principle in Iraq has been used for trade with other countries because we are buying almost everything except oil from other countries. So then can we now say, hopefully, that the meetings of the delegation, the satisfaction of the delegation, the support that you are seeing from the United States and different agencies that you've met, and the explanation that also Prime Minister Sudani in his 100 day press conference laid out that the government is working on taking steps would lay to rest all the conspiracy theories that the United States is trying to undermine the Sudani government. That is not what you're feeling, that's not what you're finding. That was a problem, some political parties or some people, they were talking about a complot against Mohammed Shia Sudani's government. But when you discuss these matters in a rational way and when you understand and when you collect all the information, then you know that it is not about being against it, it is about having or organizing their relationship, in fact. And I might say this visit is different than others because we are talking about economic ties in various fields. And this is the healthiest relationship between two countries when you are talking about helping each other, understanding each other, supporting each other, and not talking about fights, military support, but we are talking about supporting the Iraqi economy. So this is a very healthy relationship with the United States. That's great to hear. So if we, in the context that you laid out, obviously the United States has been continuously involved and engaged in Iraq for the past 20 years, the fact that you're here and you had these senior level meetings with Secretary Blinken and with others, shows that there are strong areas of common interest. Can you share with us a little bit more about what are some of the specifics of their areas of common interest and collaboration between the United States and Iraq? I see we have common interest. The climate change is affecting here, affecting Iraq, affecting the region. And so we can work together and helping each other. Terrorism in general, we can work together and helping each other, but investing in the Iraqi gas. And I may say, almost everybody knows that Iraq is an oil country, but Iraq can be a gas country. So investing in the Iraqi gas and producing Iraqi gas is not only in the benefit of the Iraqis and Iraqi economy. It can be in the benefit of many other countries, including Western countries. So Iraq has got huge reserve of oil, but also gas. Having strong economy in Iraq, it will be in the benefit of many countries surrounding Iraq, but also in the benefit of many Western countries. And American companies, they can play a role and they can invest in the Iraqi economy. That will be in the mutual interest of both sides. So there are many areas which can be in the interest of both sides. Great, so if I may transition back to domestic Iraq, within Iraq, government formed after a difficult year of an attempt at forming the government. It's been 100 years or a little bit more. There has been some areas of progress. Obviously, as you mentioned, the parties forming the coalition that is supporting this government agreed on a government program that has key priorities passing the budget and national gas and oil law and other priorities. But also there is a pressure. You have a key actor like Said Muqtada Sardar who is outside the political process. You have an Iraqi population rising by a million every year or there about. So the economic pressure is rising. The patients of the people have been really running out. But I know your government is hard at work in multi-direction to address Iraq's challenges. Among those priorities in the government program, which take the top priority and what can you give us a sense of timeline in terms of those priorities? What are you tackling first? You see, the first priority is being able as a government to provide more service to our people. There is a lack of service in some areas and in some fields. So providing services is one of the priority. And the government is paying a lot of attention to invest more in electricity and to find sources so that we can be more independent in this field. And to be independent in this field, that means we need more gas. And to have gas, we can invest in our gas fields. So one of the reason why we are paying a lot of attention to invest in gas and to produce gas is to be independent in this field, which I mentioned electricity. But to be independent also, it means to provide more service to Iraqi cities and Iraqi people. So this is one of their priority. Having good network for electricity is very important for Iraqi society. I know we are facing various problems and I know we cannot solve this problem in a very short time. We need time. And perhaps in summer, we are going to face some difficulties. These are facts. But then, there is a plan there. Producing gas, it takes perhaps two years, two, three years. So you are talking about timetable. But we must start and we are going to start. The other priorities has to do with rebuilding our economy in a different way. As I mentioned, our economy is heavily depending on oil and oil income. So without diversifying the sources of our income, we will stay prisoners of oil price. And that's very dangerous. So to diversify our economy, that means we are going to pay more attention to other sectors. Traditional sectors such as agriculture and tourism, these are two pillars which we can depend on and build our economy. But there are many other sectors. Digital economy is important for Iraq, important for the economy, but it is also important for fighting corruption. Corruption is one of the priority of this government, fighting corruption. We are suffering from corruption. As we suffered from ISIS, it is very strange to compare corruption with ISIS. But believe me, it is a fight and a very tough fight. Fighting corrupt people is not so easy. Sometimes it's more difficult than fighting ISIS. However, this government is determined to fight corrupt people and to fight corruption. But to fight corruption, we need also to change the whole system from cash economy to a different economy, to a digital economy. That will help, because part of the corrosion has to do with the fact that the economy until now, perhaps 70% is cash economy. Fighting corruption, we need to reform the bank system, the whole bank system in Iraq. As you know, the bank system that didn't exist, private sector, before 2003. Everything was in the hand of the central government. And the public sector was running the whole economy. In fact, until now, the public sector, because we are depending heavily on oil, so it is the public sector is running the economy. So the other priority has to do with establishing because it is new in Iraq, private sector and alternative economy. So these are all priorities of this government and the coming government, because I am realistic. I have been, as I said, in various cabinets. I know that some of these plans, they were there in the past, but some of them it needs time to be implemented. So there are many priorities for these governments in the economic field, providing services, health care, education, electricity, all these are on the agenda. Well, great. So the stabilizing the currency and addressing the currency exchange is a key pillar of that. The next opportunity, passing a budget, is an important opportunity to help. Budget we are already, we are discussing the draft of the budget law. We hope that we will reach an agreement among ourselves in the first place. I mean, the political actors, and then we will send the budget to the parliament within a short time. Yeah. So definitely an important opportunity to start the changing the structure of the economy as you mentioned. And you already answered my other question, which was in most of my meetings in Iraq, the people say corruption is more dangerous than ISIS, and you've already addressed that question and confirmed the same view. But if we project forward, definitely the government is trying hard. It has a strong coalition behind it. It has the opportunity to do real change. But also, as the government formed, there was all talk about this government, how long this government will be in place. Is it one year? Is it will be the early elections? There's no talk about provincial elections. There is the elections in the Kurdistan region. So looking ahead, what elections do you anticipate will happen this year? We discussed already in this framework of political leaders, the draft of the election law. The law which we finished the discussion and is going within a short time to the parliament is a combination of local election and national election. But that doesn't mean the national election will happen this year. I guess that the local election, anyhow, that's according to our plan. We want to have local election this year at the end of the year. It depends on many other issues, practical issue, but the law is already discussed and it goes these days to the parliament as for the election. So provincial elections, Kurdistan region elections are the two ones to be on the lookout. The Kurdistan region election, the government there has took their decision to have the election, but there are some differences among the political parties and we hope that they will reach an agreement of having election in Kurdistan because it's important to have that election. So speaking of the Kurdistan region, one of the questions from the audience is, while the Sudan government has good relations with the KRG, the federal Supreme Court continues to undermine Erbil Baghdad's relations, what can Prime Minister Sudan and his cabinet do to maintain the spirit of cooperation which the US government has called for? I'm not talking about the decision of the federal court, but I'm talking about the good relationship between Baghdad and Erbil. We have got some issues and I'm sure we are going to solve it. As for the budget law, there were good talks, negotiations between both teams from both sides and the paragraphs which has to do with KRG has been agreed upon. And we are going to start discussions about oil and gas law. Both teams, they will meet within two weeks, I think, one week in Baghdad and there will be the raft of oil law and according to the program of the government, oil law must be there within six months. So that means when we will finish our discussion, I mean both sides, the federal government and regional government of Kurdistan, the oil law, oil and gas law will be sent to the parliament. And I think many problems which we had around oil policy, central oil policy or federal oil policy or regional oil policy, it will be solved within this framework, within a new law because at the end, the oil policy in Iraq was depending on a law which belongs to Saddam's period while the constitution is demanding a different issue. So the constitution is clear and we are going to develop a law which depends on the articles related to oil and gas in the constitution. There will be another law which will be discussed soon which has to do with the federal court. So a new law will be in the parliament about federal court and that means when there will be a law, there will be a new federal court. Okay. Well, thank you. We have about five minutes left, so I want to switch gears to... You got these questions from the... Yes, yes, I... It's not yours. No, no, no. Some of them are, but some of them are from here. So in switch gears to the regional and global stage, in the past 10 days, you've hosted the Russian foreign minister, I think the deputy foreign minister of Iran, the Saudi foreign minister... Moroccans. Moroccans, so definitely back then... When I will be back, I will host others. Yes, I was going to ask when the Chinese foreign minister will come, but in the... So looking at... So it is really good to see... I will host Iran and foreign minister. Yeah. Okay. So looking at... It's really great to see Iraq as a hub of diplomacy in the region and this is part of Iraq regaining its ties with the region, getting to a leading role. So there are a few questions that have come up that relate to Iran and to the region and to the global dimension. So maybe one of them is, again, a question from... If I hope I'm pronouncing your name correctly, Daria from Task News Agency, basically asking your excellency earlier this week, just before your visit to DC, you said that Iraqi delegation was planning to discuss with the U.S. side the cooperation between Iraq and Russian companies in the context of sanctions against Moscow. I wonder if this topic was discussed. If so, what are the results of these conversations? As you know, we have got many Russian companies, especially in oilfield, in Iraq, and they are there since a long time. They are there. We have... Historically, we have got good ties with Moscow and these Russian companies are there. And, of course, some of them are investing, but others, they are working for us. So we have got an issue about the payment. How can we pay them? And this is really a problem. It is a problem because, at the end, if we pay, then we will... Our financial system has to do with, at the end, with the international system. And the international system, there are many sanctions against dealing with the Russian side. So our financial system is linked and our bank system is linked with the European, with the American, with many others. So dealing with the Russian financially, that means you will be against these sanctions. And that means we are going to create a problem for our bank system. And, of course, our task, our responsibility, is to protect our banks, Central Bank and other banks. We discussed this matter with Lavrov, the foreign minister. And, of course, we are following American policy. We are discussing this matter with the American side. But we know that it is not so easy. As I said, our priority and our first task is to protect our banks. When we will be back, if the Russian will approach us and discuss this matter, we are going to make it clear for them why it is difficult for us. They have got their money, but their money also in some other countries. They've got their money and they left it in the banks, another country. So if we can reach an agreement with the Russian side so that we can protect our bank system, and we will do that, because we recognize that we must pay back to the Russian. But the question is when? And about when we are going to discuss it with the Russian? Well, we have about a minute left, but I think this is a couple of angles that I would like to make sure we cover. Iraq clearly is at the center of diplomatic activism in the region with all these visits and what the government is doing to reconnect, hosting the Gulf Cup. Congratulations on both the successful organization and the Iraqi team winning. So there's an optimism is coming through if you have an objective and deep look at Iraq. But also in this multipolar world that people now describe, and there is competition, rivalry, whichever word we choose, Iraq is in demand. It has a special relationship with the United States, a strategic framework agreement, but also there is competition that the Russians are in the region, the Chinese are in the region, they have investments in Iraq. And in the past year that we have seen both collaboration, but also more direct military intervention by Iran, striking inside Iraq, inside the Kurdistan region, more Turkish military operations, water. Well, these things that you have mentioned are questions or? No, no, no, no, I'm coming to the question. In this context, in this difficult context of pressure and also common interest, how is Iraq making its choices navigating these competing countries and priorities? You see, we are thinking about our interest in the first place. So security interest, economic interest, political interest in strategical interest, and then we are building our relationship on the basis of this interest. At the end, it is the internal politics which decides the foreign policy. But of course, in our political fields, there are many actors, many political parties, they've got their ideology, they're standing against other countries. But for us as government, in the first place, we are establishing our relationship on the basis of the Iraqi interest. Geography is playing a role in our relationship. History is playing a role. Culture is playing a role. But economic ties is playing also a role. So when we are looking to the geography, we are protecting our geography, we are not running away from our geography. So we want to have good ties with Turkey, with Iran, with all neighboring countries. And the fact that if we look to the history of Iraq, most of the time, especially during Ba'fati system and Saddam system was in quarrel with everybody, with Iran, with Turkey. Sometimes he reached when I'm talking about he because he was the only man who decides. So he reached good agreement and cooperation with Iran and later on he was attacking them. He had good cooperation and working together with the equities later on he attacked them. He had good cooperation with the Saudis, later on he had political conflict with them. With the Turks, with the Jordanian. So he was in conflict with everybody. We are just changing this equation. We are going to be in good shape we are trying to be in good relationship with all countries surrounding us. And we are doing that. And we are benefiting from this. Internationally, you cannot ignore China. I'm not talking about policy, foreign policy of another country. I'm talking about Iraq. How can you ignore China? China is one of the powerful countries in the world. Chinese economy is so important for the world. Chinese are in Africa almost everywhere. Chinese are in Middle East almost everywhere. Their companies, they are very active inside Iraq. Our trade relationship with China is about $20 billion. They are importing oil from Iraq. They in India they are importing the main importers of oil from Iraq. So of course our economic interest, political interest, strategical interest, also culture in the region. We want to have good ties and we have good ties with all these countries. But that doesn't mean when we have good ties and good relation with these countries it will be used or we will be used against others. We are doing the same. We are aware of the tension between Washington and Iran but we have good, very strong relations with both. And we are not against using this relationship against the other or the other relationship against the United States. We are frank with the Iranians. We are telling them about our good and historical relation with the United States. And we are telling them that our country Iraq, the society, politics, economy is in need for this. In fact, we are telling both sides that the tension between both countries is not good anyhow for us. So sometimes we are encouraging both sides to continue dialogue, to continue negotiation and we were happy about the process of the negotiation in Vienna. And we hope that once again they will start to talk in Vienna. Well, thank you, your Excellency. Unfortunately, we have come to the end of our time. Otherwise you would continue asking. I have a good set of questions from the audience that I'm sorry that we couldn't get to them for the short of time. We need to get His Excellency to his next meeting. But I was also part of hoping, part of this active diplomacy of energy, of diplomatic energy coming to Baghdad right before your visit is also you're playing that role of a bridge, not only for Iraq's interests, but also regionally and globally Iraq's rise to that level. So a new conclusion, I would really like to thank you again for coming back to USIP. I would like to thank the government of Iraq for your partnership in country, to the embassy for your partnership here. We look forward to building on that. I would like to thank you all for joining us here in the room in this Friday afternoon. I thank those who joined us online at this late hour, wherever you are, it must be late. That all shows that how much there's appreciation for Iraq. So thank you so very much. I would like to ask our folks in the room to just hold in your seats for a few minutes until the delegation has left and join me in a round of applause. If you allow me because I want to say hello to many friends here. So I will stay in the room without. Okay, we have another meeting to need to get you to, but of course we respect your time. But join me in a round of applause for his excellency for the candid discussion.