Visiting Italian Defense Minister Arturo Parisi said on Wednesday that the mandate of the Italian troops deployed in southern Iraq would expire by Christmas this year, and their peacekeeping mission would be transferred to the Iraqi authorities.

Parisi told local media that 1,600 Italian troops would be pulled out of southern Iraq in batches, in line with the timetable, and the military withdrawal was to be completed by the end of this year.

Earlier, the Italian defense minister held talks with Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser and his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Jaber after arriving here early on Wednesday.

Source: Xinhua