WASHINGTON — Iraq, backed by the Obama administration, made a pitch Tuesday for US investment as it pursues business-friendly reforms in a bid to revive its war-battered economy.
President Barack Obama hailed the importance of a visit by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who is accompanied by executives from 200 businesses and officials overseeing some 750 projects in all economic sectors.
"It represents a transition in our bilateral relationship so that we are moving now to issues beyond security and we are beginning to talk about economy, trade, commerce," Obama said as a two-day business and investment conference began at a Washington hotel on Tuesday.
"We've seen over the last several months progress being made on providing clarification about investment laws inside of Iraq. There are obviously enormous opportunities for our countries to do business together," Obama said.
With US troops withdrawing from Iraq, Maliki, who appeared earlier at the conference, said US-Iraq ties are moving beyond security cooperation to "economic development and to providing prosperity for the Iraqi people."
Such cooperation, as well as on promoting political reconciliation among Iraq's ethnic and religious groups, fall under the Strategic Framework Agreement concluded with the United States in the last year.
"We are trying to rebuild all our sectors of agriculture, oil sectors, tourism and so forth," Maliki said.
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