People's Daily Online July 17, 2024 08:30 Beijing
Cui Wei
Iraq is one of the first Arab countries to establish diplomatic relations with New China, and also an important partner of China in jointly building the "the Belt and Road" in West Asia and North Africa. In recent years, China Iran relations have steadily developed under the glorious banner of building a community with a shared future for mankind, and the traditional friendship between China and Iran has opened a new chapter.
      Iraqi President Rashid expressed support for the "the Belt and Road" initiative and agreed with China's development philosophy. Prime Minister Sudani stressed that China is a special friend of Iraq, and Iraq is willing to be an important partner of China in promoting the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road".
Since the establishment of the strategic partnership between China and Iran in 2015, the relationship between the two countries has developed healthily and steadily, and cooperation in various fields has steadily advanced. China firmly supports Iran in safeguarding national sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity, supporting Iran in combating terrorism and maintaining national security and stability, supporting the Iranian people in independently choosing a development path that is in line with their national conditions, and opposing any external forces interfering in Iran's internal affairs. China Iran economic and trade cooperation achieves mutual benefit and win-win outcomes. China is Iraq's largest trading partner, and Iraq is China's third largest trading partner among Arab countries. In 2023, the bilateral trade volume between China and Iran reached 49.74 billion US dollars. China and Iraq are both ancient civilizations. People to people and cultural exchanges between the two countries have been carried out smoothly. The two sides have maintained good cooperation within the framework of the Forum on Ancient Civilizations and the World Forum on the Protection of Ancient Civilizations. More and more Iraqi youth are choosing to study abroad in China for further education.
The joint construction of the "the Belt and Road" between China and Iran has become a vivid practice of building a community with a shared future for mankind. China is the country that participated in Iraq's economic reconstruction earliest, for the longest time, with the widest distribution of projects and the most fields. Chinese companies undertook the first natural gas processing plant and the first project to achieve comprehensive utilization of natural gas in Iraqi oil fields. After full operation, it can reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by nearly 30000 tons per year. The power plants constructed by Chinese enterprises provide half of the electricity in Iraq. The first batch of demonstration school projects undertaken by Chinese enterprises will help improve teaching conditions in Iraq and solve the problem of 430000 students going to school. China attaches great importance to cultivating local technical talents, sharing cooperation achievements, and using practical actions to support local economic and social development.
Looking forward to the future, China and Iran will fully implement the important consensus of the leaders of the two countries, work together to promote the high-quality construction of the "the Belt and Road", jointly implement the global development initiative, the global security initiative, and the global civilization initiative, promote the China Iran strategic partnership to a new level, and jointly contribute to the construction of a China Arab community of common destiny facing the new era.
(The author is the Chinese Ambassador to Iraq)
People's Daily (July 17, 2024, Issue 03)