Newly-appointed Arab League (AL) envoy to Iraq Hani Khallaf said Sunday he will take up his post in Baghdad on Oct. 6.
"I will travel to Iraq on Monday according to a decision of AL Secretary General Amr Moussa," Khallaf told Xinhua in a telephone interview on Sunday.
Khallaf, a former Egyptian diplomat, said both the Cairo-based Arab organization and Egypt believe that it's time to move more Arab efforts for the Iraqi issues.
"We need a more active Arab role in Iraq," said Khallaf, who was appointed as the head of AL diplomatic mission to Iraq on July31.
The 22-member pan-Arab body opened its diplomatic mission in Baghdad in 2006. The former AL envoy to Iraq Moukhtar Lamani from Morocco resigned in 2007.
Commenting on Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit's visit to Baghdad on Sunday, Khallaf said it shows that Egypt is keen on enhancing bilateral ties with Iraq.
There are three Arab embassies in Baghdad, namely those of Lebanon, Yemen and the Palestinians, and six more Arab countries have the intention to resume diplomatic mission in Iraq, said the AL envoy.
Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, Bahrain, Kuwait and Egypt are considering the reopening of their embassies in Baghdad, said Khallaf.
The reopening of Arab embassies in Iraq will help reach national reconciliation in the war-torn country and encourage its economic ties with other Arab countries, added Khallaf.
After a blast at the Jordanian embassy in Iraq in August 2003 that killed at least 17 people, many Arab diplomats chose to stay away from Baghdad.
Iraq has been urging world countries to establish ties with it, particularly calling on the Arab world to name their ambassadors and open their embassies in Baghdad.
Source:Xinhua
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