UN Chief In Iraq For 'solidarity' Visit

Baghdad, March 1 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Mar, 2023 ) :UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Iraq to "break cycles of instability and fragility" after talks with senior officials in Baghdad on Wednesday, following a drawn-out political crisis in the war-torn country.

The UN chief's visit comes as Iraq, blighted by corruption and broken infrastructure, prepares to mark the 20th anniversary of the US-led invasion that toppled longtime dictator Saddam Hussein.

Guterres said he wanted to demonstrate "solidarity" with Iraq "in the consolidation of its democratic institutions and advancing peace".

He said he also wanted to express his "confidence that Iraqis will be able to overcome the difficulties and challenges they still face through an open and inclusive dialogue".

"I am here in Baghdad with a measure of hope: hope that Iraq can break cycles of instability and fragility; hope that it can set a sustainable course towards greater prosperity, freedom, and peace," said Guterres during a joint news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.

Guterres arrived late Tuesday in Iraq, which has been battered by decades of war, conflict and corruption that have devastated infrastructure and impoverished its people.

Despite its immense oil and gas reserves, about one-third of Iraq's 42 million population now lives in poverty, while some 35 percent of young people are unemployed, according to the UN.

The country also ranks near the bottom of Transparency International's corruption perceptions index, at 157 out of 180 countries.

It suffers from water and power shortages, as well as drought and desertification, with the UN saying Iraq is one of the five countries most exposed to impacts of climate change.