British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who arrived in Iraq on Saturday on a surprise visit, is holding talks with his Iraqi counterpart, focusing on British investment in the country and economic cooperation, according to an Iraqi cabinet statement, reported dpa.
Brown, whose visit to Iraq is the third since he took office in June last year, will discuss economic cooperation and British investment projects as well as British military presence in Basra, the statement said.
The Iraqi government, boasting the lowest level of violence in four years, has been reaping the benefits of security achievements and a successful diplomatic offensive aiming at reintegrating Iraq into the international community and the region.
A number of high-profile senior foreign officials visited Baghdad in the past weeks, including Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Brown is the latest of these.
US Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Barak Obama, currently on a foreign tour, is also expected to stop in Baghdad in the next days.
A number of Arab countries are opening embassies in Baghdad, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait, further signaling international confidence in the Iraqi government and its ability to maintain law and order in the country.
The Iraqi government is hoping to attract foreign investors and firms that have stayed away from the war-ravaged country despite its immense oil wealth and lucrative reconstruction projects.
This year, foreign firms have committed to deals estimated at about 500 million dollars and about one billion dollars worth of foreign investment are expected by the end of the year, according to Pentagon estimates.
Many of the firms now operating in Iraq are from countries that did not send troops to take part in the 2003 US-led invasion, such as Turkey, China and France.
Britain does not want to miss on the lucrative business opportunities lying ahead in Iraq.
Brown will seek to promote British investment in the oil-rich southern province of Basra where about 4,000 British troops are stationed at its airport.
During a visit to Iraq last December, Brown and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih launched the Basra Development Commission to promote investment in the province.
"Britain's long-term strategic goal is to establish ties with Iraq on a permanent basis in the areas of trade and investment and boost cultural and academic cooperation," British government spokesman in the region, Jon Wilks, told the Iraqi-state owned daily al-Sabah.
Since October the British government has scaled down troops from 5,000 to 4,000 but further troop cuts to 2,500 had been halted after the launch of an Iraqi government's crackdown against Shiite militias in Basra end of March.
Major British troop cuts in Iraq will have to be decided next year, British army chief, Jock Stirrup, said on Friday.
London has made the full withdrawal of troops from Iraq conditional on the four goals of a successful training of Iraqi security forces, political security, advances in economic rebuilding and a return to normal civil aviation to Basra airport. dpa str sf mga