Following his recent visit to Baghdad, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said Sweden should upgrade its diplomatic mission in Iraq, Radio Sweden reported on Tuesday.
Both the United Nations and the European Union should play a bigger political role in Iraq, Bildt was quoted as saying.
The Swedish embassy in Baghdad was closed during the first years of the American-led invasion. The embassy is open now but the ambassador is stationed in Amman in neighboring Jordan, for security reasons.
Carl Bildt said that Sweden should strengthen its bilateral relations with Iraq, as more than half of the Iraqi refugees arriving in Europe come to Sweden.
Carl Bildt arrived unannounced in the war-ravaged Iraqi capital over the weekend and met Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari for talks dominated by Stockholm's stricter policies for Iraqi refugees.
Sweden has now between 80,000 and 120,000 Iraqi refugees and asylum seekers.
Source: Xinhua
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