Jordan king visits Iraq

BAGHDAD: Jordanian King Abdullah II met Iraq’s president and prime minister in Baghdad on Monday, in the monarch’s first trip to Iraq in more than a decade.

It is the latest in a string of top-level visits to Iraq in recent weeks, which kicked off with a surprise Christmas trip by US President Donald Trump. King Abdullah met separately with Iraqi President Barham Saleh, who had travelled to Jordan in November, and Prime Minister Adel Abdel-Mahdi, their press offices said.

They said Jordan and Iraq were looking to strength bilateral ties but did not give additional details. Abdullah’s last trip to Iraq was in 2008, when he became the first Arab leader to visit Baghdad after strongman Saddam Hussein was toppled by the US-led invasion in 2003. The two countries share a 179-kilometre (111-mile) border, and Jordan is a major importer of Iraqi crude oil.