A look at Baghdad's diplomacy – when the Iraqi passport began its global ascent
Salam Adel / Naram Sin Foundation
Iraqi diplomacy is described these days as "productive diplomacy," and this comes after gains achieved during two years supported by a state of political and security stability at home, which has become a boost to Iraq's position abroad, which seems to have reached a stage of "zero external problems," whether in its regional environment or in relations extending across continents.
Hence, the intensity of the criticisms that had been following the senior Iraqi diplomat, Foreign Minister (Fuad Hussein), regarding his bias towards Erbil and not Baghdad in his work, has decreased, given that the man has provided the federal government with what an effective and professional foreign minister can play, regardless of his party affiliation, as evidenced by his role amidst difficult circumstances in which a full-scale war in the Middle East almost broke out, making Iraq, in most perceptions, an arena of fire, and these are real fears fueled by proxy tendencies.
Behind the scenes, another activity is revealed by the Prime Minister’s Foreign Relations Advisor (Farhad Ala’a Al-Din), as part of his efforts with capitals to establish two principles in international relations: (Iraq First + Common Interests). This is a pragmatic duality prevalent in foreign relations that is mostly successful, especially in this stage crowded with development challenges and the search for resources, and in light of increasing economic bottlenecks experienced by major countries.
Perhaps the biggest player in shaping Iraqi foreign policy during this stage was Prime Minister (Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani), who managed a fully functional work at the level of the executive apparatus, in addition to the internal political consensus with all components and forces, which made the level of confidence in the state and the system rise to levels that created external credibility.
For this reason, Iraq has become a point of attraction, and even a center for international communications. Recently, Sudan used (telephone diplomacy) effectively when the events of the Al-Aqsa flood intensified and its repercussions included Syria after Lebanon. At the same time, Baghdad is preparing within the next few months to hold a broadly represented Arab summit, which may coincide with a new version of the Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership at the request of the French Foreign Minister (Jean-Noël Barrault).
It is clear that Baghdad’s relations with the permanent members of the Security Council are witnessing an unprecedented spring, strengthened by bilateral strategic agreements with Washington, Moscow, London and Paris, as well as the Chinese capital, Beijing, whose ambassador in Baghdad (Cui Wei) praised a few days ago at a press conference the development of the Belt and Road Agreement in an upward trend during the past years, raising trade exchange to about 50 billion dollars.
In another press conference, the French ambassador in Baghdad (Patrick Durel) announced an increase in the granting of visas to Iraqis, with the aim of deepening relations between Baghdad and Paris, according to him. Britain had also announced the lifting of the Iraqi passport from the red list to the orange and yellow lists in preparation for the green list, and this means strengthening the power and chances of the Iraqi passport in obtaining an entry visa to the United Kingdom.
For her part, the German Ambassador to Baghdad, Christine Homann, expressed her happiness that Germany is in the pocket of every Iraqi, referring to the fact that the Iraqi electronic passport and the unified national card are made in Germany, with high-precision international specifications comparable to the European passport. This will open up travel and tourism routes to the countries of the Union with facilities that were not previously available, as confirmed by the Spanish Ambassador to Iraq, Aliza del Pulgar, in an elite meeting recently organized by the Naram Sin Foundation for Dialogue and Development.
