US Ambassador in Iraq: Iraq Is The Cornerstone Of The Middle East, And Forming The Govt Is An Internal Matter

Baghdad / NINA /- US Ambassador Alina Romanowski described Iraq as the cornerstone of the Middle East region, the most important strategic partner of her country, and said that the Iraqi people do not want the militias' control, which is undermining the situation in the country. During a meeting with a group of journalists, including NINA, Romanowski added, "There are commonalities in bilateral relations and we are working on Iraq's stability, prosperity and sovereignty." She pointed out that "there are ways to achieve the joint strategy, including promoting economic development and supporting Iraqi sovereignty." She explained: "The US embassy will continue to move forward, in coordination with the Iraqi government, to achieve the interests of the Iraqi people, and for the people to be stable and more balanced." As for the procedures for forming the next government, she said: "We consider it an internal Iraqi affair, and it is an internal challenge," adding: "Last October we witnessed successful elections, and any government that will be formed through the current political movement will hopefully serve the Iraqi people." She added, "We do not expect that the Iraqi people want the militias' control, and this is what undermines the situation in Iraq, and we saw this thing on the street that the Iraqi people reject armed manifestations," stressing that "it is very difficult for any country to move forward and develop if it is subject to foreign agendas." She pointed out that "democracy may be in a chaotic form at times, but the Iraqi people are the ones who choose their government to move forward," noting that "the United States remains in the Middle East to establish security and stability and support peace efforts in the region economically, politically and securityly." Regarding the Jeddah summit that took place recently in Saudi Arabia, Romanowski considered it "a very important summit that expressed the importance of Iraq and its place among the Arab fabric, and the Iraqi people also felt this importance of Iraq." She pointed out that "the diversity of electrical energy sources was emphasized at the Gulf Cooperation Summit, and the emphasis was on linking electrical lines between Iraq and Jordan, linking electrical lines between Kuwait and the governorates of southern Iraq, and linking electrical lines between Iraq and Saudi Arabia," explaining that "and through the diversity of energy sources." Iraq will have a lot of choices to get electric power instead of relying on just one source." She saw that "the electrical connection between Iraq and Jordan has achieved success in this field through the economic and diplomatic fields, and a specialized American company agreed to establish the infrastructure for electrical linkage between Iraq and Jordan in the two countries." She noted that "in the coming months, we will support the private sector, which is the main key to attracting investments and encouraging youth work and leadership." She continued, "We have close cooperation between the United States, the international coalition and Iraq to defeat ISIS, and we are working together by increasing the capabilities of the Iraqi forces, which have reached a large percentage of readiness to fight ISIS choices. She added, "We have many projects that some may see as small, but their work is large, as an example of this is provided by the US Agency for International Development by automating transactions between governorates and linking some of them electronically for the purpose of enabling transparency and preventing corruption." She indicated that "the form of the Iraqi government is the choice of the Iraqi people, and we, as the United States of America, will deal with any Iraqi government that emanates from the will of the Iraqi people, and we will deal with what the Iraqi government wants from close cooperation with the United States," hoping that the next Iraqi government "work to continue cooperation between Iraq and the international community and that this government strive to preserve Iraq's sovereignty." She said, "We do not do anything different between the Kurdistan region or in Baghdad, and we do not encourage any of the Kurdish parties to nominate a personality for the presidency, and we do not interfere in selecting or nominating any figure, as this is an internal matter, but we encourage reaching an agreement between the two Kurdish parties to participate according to the constitutionalism and democracy timings and respect for the rights of the Iraqi people. She stressed: "The future of Iraq is not determined in the past, but rather is determined by what will happen in the coming days, but we support any government chosen by the Iraqi people because the Iraqi people know their interests." She said, "I will not give Muqtada al-Sadr or any other party any advice in what is in their interest, they know what they are doing and what they choose for the benefit of the Iraqi people.”/ End