6 December 2024
Mr. President,
We are grateful to the UNSG Special Representative, Mohamed Al Hassan, for his briefing on the situation in the friendly Republic of Iraq against the backdrop of the region-wide escalation of hostilities in the Middle East. We congratulate you on your appointment to this esteemed position and we extend to you our full support. We also thank Hanaa Edwar for her briefing.
We were heartened to hear that, despite the socio-economic challenges related to growing tensions around Iraq, the country has funtioning state institutions and is able to independently tackle the challenges it faces.
In this regard, we applaud the steps undertaken by the Cabinet of Prime Minister Muhammed al-Sudani to stabilize the internal political situation and to enhance the effectiveness of Iraqi governing bodies, including at the provincial and local levels. This is attested to by the successful conduct of parliamentary elections in the Kurdistan Autonomous Region of Iraq on October 20, 2024, and by the election of a new Speaker of the Council of Representatives. We trust that all Iraqi political forces will strive to resolve the existing differences exclusively through dialogue and for the advancemenet of interests of all ethno-confessional communities and population groups. We consistently and unwaveringly support the progress of dialogue between Baghdad and Erbil on all outstanding contentious and unresolved issues.
We wish to note in particular the positive trends in strengthening the security sector and combating the terrorist underground. We are convinced that the Iraqi law enforcement structures are capable of tackling these problems independently. There is an important need to ensure the timely implementation of the agreements reached on the phased withdrawal from Iraq of the US-led so-called Global Colation to Defeat ISIS. Dragging this process out, and the presence of foreign troops on Iraqi territory in general, are not only destabilizing factors for Iraq but also have an adverse impact on the region-wide escalation, which has become extremely fraught.
In this connection, we reiterate our firm support for the sovereignty of Iraq and our objection to any interference in the internal affairs of the Republic. Amid escalating tensions throughout the Middle East, it is important to thwart attempts to pull Iraq into the conflicts raging in the region. We are particularly concerned by the intensification of Israeli airstrikes, including those using Iraqi airspace. We are convinced that the Republic of Iraq should not turn into an arena for score-settling.
We highly appreciate Baghdad’s willingness to forge mutually beneficial relations with its neighbors in a spirit of friendship and cooperation. In this context, what deserves our special support is the willingness of the leaderships of Iraq and Kuwait to promptly settle all outstanding issues in a spirit of good-neighbourliness, including the repatriation of the remains of Kuwaiti citizens and the return of Kuwaiti national property.
Mr. President,
We note the multifaceted efforts of the United Nations in Iraq, including the activities of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). Over the 20 years of its operation, UNAMI has fully realized its potential in rebuilding and strengthening Iraqi state institutions, including through the normalization of social and political life and the organization of the electoral process, and now Iraqis are ready to shoulder responsibility for the political future of their country, and our shared goal is to help them do so. UNSC resolution 2732 stipulates that the Mission will definitively conclude its work by December 31, 2025; and by the end of this year, we need to come to agreement on a joint plan for a drawdown and technical liquidation of the Mission.
We hope to see this document soon and we trust that the UN Secretariat will closely cooperate with the spesialised committee recently established by the Iraqi Government on all issues related to the timely reduction of staffing levels and the orderly withdrawal of the Mission.
For our part, we will continue to extend our comprehesive support to Baghdad and are determined to further strengthen friendly Russian-Iraqi relations.
Thank you.