Ex-Prime Minister Abe visits Iraq as Aso's envoy+

TOKYO, Jan. 28 Kyodo - Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Baghdad on Wednesday as Prime Minister Taro Aso's special envoy to strengthen bilateral ties, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said.

Abe handed over a letter from Aso to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani during
their meeting, while attending a ceremony for signing a declaration on the
Japan-Iraq partnership, according to the Foreign Ministry.
The declaration calls for strengthening bilateral cooperation in the field of
energy as well as setting up a ministerial meeting.
Abe's visit aims at ''building friendly relations between Japan and Iraq in
various areas,'' Kawamura said, adding that the visit was occasioned by the
completion of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force airlift mission there last
December.
Abe on Tuesday delivered a speech at an economic forum on global
competitiveness while he was in Saudi Arabia as Aso's envoy.
Japan dispatched the Ground Self-Defense Force and the ASDF to Iraq from 2004
to provide humanitarian and reconstruction aid. The SDF completed its mission
in December and returned to Japan.
==Kyodo
2009-01-28