Representatives from Bahrain, Syria, Jordan and Spain took their posts Thursday as ambassadors to Iraq after submitting their credentials to Iraq's president, the Iraqi government said.
Francisco Elias of Spain, Nawaf Abboud al-Sheikh Faris of Syria, Salah Ali Hassan al-Maliki of Bahrain and Nayef Fantul al-Zaidan of Jordan presented their credentials to President Jalal Talabani in a Thursday afternoon ceremony, the president's office said, reports CNN.
"This is a clear evidence for the success of the Iraqi government and the Iraqi diplomacy and its persistence in the last few years," Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said earlier Thursday, ahead of the ceremony. Zebari also attended the ceremony, according to the statement issued by the president's office.
"We expect that this new direction and this new Arab openness will continue toward Iraq," the foreign minister said.