Iraqi Prime Minister meets Macron in Paris for energy and security talks

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani arrives in France on Thursday for energy and security talks with President Emmanuel Macron.

French oil company TotalEnergies in 2021 signed a 10 billion euro contract with Baghdad, but work on a complex series of projects is yet to begin.

Plans include the construction of oil and gas processing facilities with the capacity for electricity production, along with a one-gigawatt photovoltaic power plant.

Despite being home to a wealth of hydrocarbon reserves, Iraq's neglected electricity grid is dilapidated and power cuts often last for hours.

Neighbouring Iran supplies a third of Iraq's gas and electricity, and Baghdad is seeking greater energy independence.

Pro-Iranian parties

Sudani's coalition government, formed in October, is supported by pro-Iranian parties.

President Macron is particularly invested in Iraq, having twice visited the country since taking office in 2017. Last month the French leader told a regional conference in Jordan that Baghdad should embark on a path not "dictated from outside".

• Macron visits key heritage sites in Iraq, pledges to bring back schools

Security will also be discussed, with Sudani saying talks will include "training and development of Iraqi security capabilities, as well as in the field of arms purchases".

Baghdad has also played a role as mediator between regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia, after diplomatic relations between the countries froze in 2016.

The last meetings took place in April and Sudani, although unable to say when talks might resume, said he felt that Iran and Saudi Arabia are "ready to resume dialogue".

'Long-running saga'

One recurring item on the agenda will be the Bagdad Elevated Train project. Plans for the construction of a French-funded metro system in Bagdad are not new, and were called a "long-running saga" by Middle East Business Intelligence, a portal that monitors the region's economy.

In 2011, the French Alstom group signed a preliminary, 1,5 billion euro deal with the Bagdad city government for the construction of a 25 km high-level metro. According to a Reuters despatch at the time, the metro would be "partly funded by a French government loan covering 50 to 60 percent of the cost" with the remainder financed through a low-interest loan from a French government-run bank "to be repaid over 20 years."

The metro was never built. In October 2020, Alstom announced again that it "had signed a letter of intent" with the Iraqi Ministry of Transport for the construction of an "elevated train" line of 20 km. The letter was signed during a ceremony in Paris by then Prime Ministers Jean Castex of France and his Iraqi counterpart Mustafa Al Kadhimi. 

At the end of 2022, the "Baghdad Elevated Train" (BET) project was finally included in Iraq'a 2023 budget, with the spokesperson of Iraq's Ministry of Transport cited as saying that the line could have a length of "more than 50 km." 

Cultural cooperation

France also works with Germany in Iraq. On the 60th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty, signed on 22 Janufromy 1963, the foundation stone was laid for the future “French-German Cultural Institute” in Erbil, capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region (KRI).

According to a press release from the French presidency, this institute will be housed in the Erbil Citadel, a UNESCO world heritage site, and will host language programs and cultural activities.

(With news agencies)