The Philippines and Iraq convened the 8th Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) in Manila on 30 August 2023 at the Manila Diamond Hotel after a 10-year gap. The 7th Philippines-Iraq JCM was hosted by the Iraqi side in Baghdad back in 2013.
𝐼𝑟𝑎𝑞𝑖 𝐹𝑒𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝐼𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐺ℎ𝑎𝑧𝑖 𝐻𝑢𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑖𝑛 𝐴𝑙-𝐺ℎ𝑎𝑏𝑖, 𝐷𝐹𝐴 𝐴𝑠𝑠𝑡 𝑆𝑒𝑐 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑀𝑖𝑑 𝐸𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐴𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎 𝐴𝑓𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑟𝑠 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑙 𝑀𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑜𝑟, 𝑁𝑎𝑗𝑎𝑓 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑖𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝐸𝑛𝑔𝑟. 𝐻𝑒𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝐻. 𝐽𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑚, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑃𝑎𝑚𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑚 𝐷𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 & 𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑙 𝐴𝑡𝑡𝑦. 𝑃𝑎𝑢𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑜 𝑌𝑢𝑠𝑖
The Philippine delegation was led by Assistant Secretary Mardomel Celo D. Melicor of the Department of Foreign Affairs Office of Middle East and African Affairs, while the Iraqi delegation was led by His Excellency Khamees Hussein Ali, Deputy Minister of Health of the Republic of Iraq. The Iraqi delegation included representatives from Iraq’s Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Health, Agriculture, Transportation, Construction and Housing, Finance, Education, Labor and Social Affairs.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs is honored to host this round of the Joint Commission Meeting. We are confident that the meeting made us progress forward in our bilateral relations with Iraq, one of our longstanding and friendly partners in the Middle East region. Iraq has been consistently supportive of the Philippines in many aspects of our relations, particularly in the protection of our nationals. This Joint Commission Meeting was an opportunity to dialogue with our Iraqi counterparts to set the direction of our bilateral relations in the years to come,” Assistant Secretary Melicor said.
This JCM aimed to revitalize the relations between the Philippines and Iraq and realign priority areas of cooperation to reflect the current aspirations, needs and targets of both countries. It took into account the transformation in the geopolitical and economic landscape in Asia and the Middle East, and sought to encourage Philippine and Iraqi stakeholders to proactively explore opportunities for cooperation in health, culture, trade, agriculture, finance, and security. The 8th JCM also discussed consular cooperation to establish safety nets for Filipino nationals in Iraq, as well as multilateral cooperation. The next JCM will be hosted by the Iraqi side.
