German Chancellor Angela Merkel and visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed on Tuesday to seek stronger ties between Germany and Iraq.
On Tuesday, Nuri al-Maliki paid his official visit to Germany after he took the helm of the Iraqi government and held talks with Merkel.
Speaking to the press after the talks, Nuri al-Maliki said Iraq was able to look after its own security and was ready for major foreign investment, including that from Germany.
"Iraq is able to take the security situation into its own hands, we have achieved great success," he said.
Merkel agreed, noting that the security situation in Iraq was improving "step by step."
She welcomed other signs of progress in Iraq, such as the recent return of Sunni ministers to al-Maliki's government.
The chancellor said Germany was in a position to offer its technological expertise in return for access to Iraqi resources.
Merkel also noted that Iraq had an industrial history which could be drawn on when German firms re-entered the Iraqi market.
Al-Maliki was also due to meet with a number of German business leaders during his visit in the hope of reviving the trade relationship between the two nations.
Earlier on Monday, German Federal Foreign Ministry said it was to open a consulate-general next year with a senior diplomat in charge in Arbil, in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.
Germany maintains an embassy in Baghdad, which has been hampered in its work by its location outside the most secure, U.S.-guarded part of the city, the Green Zone.
Germany did not participated in the U.S.-led Iraqi War in 2003.
Source:Xinhua
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