Head of Iraqi Shiite National Alliance Ammar Al Hakim underlined the role performed by Egypt to lead the countries of the region to achieve security and stability, calling the Arab countries for holding dialogue to discuss the ways to keep the regional security and stability. He added that Egypt performs a major role to promote moderation and to target extremism, praising the current state of solidarity between the Egyptians and Iraqis.
He said, during an interview with “Arabs Today”, that Egypt’s role is not limited to the Arab world but extends to the region and the world as whole, saying that the Egyptian government works to support regional balance in the Middle East. He proposed organizing a conference gathering between the major powers of the region, including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey to achieve regional understanding and to ease the current conflicts witnessed in the region.
He stressed the danger of extremism, saying that it poses serious threat against Iraq, Egypt and the whole region. He added that the increasing extremism is considered one of the common threats that need serious cooperation between the different parties to eliminate this threat as soon as possible.
He underlined the need for increasing cooperation between the religious references, including Egypt’s Azhar, to eliminate the extremist ideas beside the military and intelligence measure to eliminate the terrorists. He praised the efforts exerted by the Iraqi troops during the current period to cleanse the Iraqi cities from the grip of extremist ISIS group.
He added that the Iraqi forces give priority to protecting the civilians, saying that the major of the operations is to protect the civilians from ISIS not to protect the cities. He added that the keenness of Iraqi troops to protect the lives of people is the main reason behind the delay of the military operations.
He added that he was keen to express the Iraqi desire to strengthen relations with Egypt during the meetings he conducted with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. He revealed that the Iranian leaderships expressed their desire to conduct a dialogue with the Gulf States, saying that his country is ready to mediate between the two parties.
He stressed that they have the opportunity to develop economic relations between Egypt and Iraq during the coming period, praising the agreement concluded between the two countries to provide Egypt with the Iraqi oil. He added that there are challenges preventing the return of Iraqi tourism, including the measures taken against them. He called the Iraqi companies to perform a role in rebuilding his country.