Today the Prime Minister met with Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki of Iraq.
Mr Al-Maliki is the first Prime Minister of Iraq to visit Australia and his visit is of historic importance.
The Prime Minister congratulated Mr Al-Maliki on the significant improvement in Iraq's security situation over the past year and on Iraq's continued economic and political progress, reflected in successful provincial elections in January.
Prime Minister Al-Maliki conveyed his and the people of Iraq's deep appreciation for Australia's continued strong commitment to a secure, prosperous and democratic Iraq.
The leaders agreed that as the security situation in Iraq continues to improve, there is increasing scope to strengthen and broaden the bilateral relationship.
A major focus of discussion was strengthening trade and investment links. Over the past four years Australian contracts in Iraq have totalled some A$3 billion.
The leaders committed to build on this strong performance, particularly using Australia's world leading agricultural and resource sector expertise.
Australia will appoint a Senior Trade Commissioner to contribute to stronger commercial links.
The leaders agreed that there should be more engagement by Australian firms in the oil and gas sector in Iraq and encouraged training opportunities in resource fields in Australia.
The leaders also discussed Iraq's interest in increasing Australian wheat imports, and Australian business interest in the construction of hospitals and other scientific facilities in Iraq, and border monitoring technologies.
The Prime Minister reaffirmed Australia's commitment to assisting Iraq with its development needs, with a strong focus on agriculture, public sector governance, improving basic service delivery and supporting vulnerable populations.
Australia will also have an AusAID presence in Baghdad to support the Government's A$165 million three-year development assistance commitment.
The leaders agreed to an Australia-Iraq Agricultural Partnership focused on bolstering Iraq's agricultural productivity and food security as a central element of Iraq's reconstruction and development.
As a first step in this Partnership, we agreed that the Australian Minister for Agriculture, the Hon Tony Burke MP, would lead an Australian delegation to Iraq this year to discuss further agricultural cooperation, including in the commercial sphere.
Prime Minister Al-Maliki welcomed the commencement this year of more than 100 Australian agricultural scholarships to train Iraqis in livestock, plant, water and environmental management.
Prime Minister Rudd announced that Australia will begin a new range of agricultural initiatives, including:
• a $4 million initiative to address soil salinity around Baghdad and Southern Iraq
• a $9 million initiative on quarantine and border control training, and
• a $4 million initiative to create rural businesses through rural finance.
As a start to building international mechanisms to underpin this growing relationship, the leaders agreed to a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding on Education and Training to facilitate people-to-people links between the two countries.