Iran minister to head for Bahrain meeting

Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar is to leave Tehran for Manama on Tuesday to attend a ministerial meeting of Iraq’s neighboring countries.

Najjar is scheduled to deliver a speech in the summit and will hold talks with his counterparts on the sidelines of the meeting, IRNA reported.

A high-ranking Iranian delegation arrived in Bahrain on Sunday for a preliminary meeting prior to the summit to be held in the capital Manama on Wednesday.

Iran, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey will attend the seventh conference of the Interior Ministers of Iraq’s Neighboring Countries.

The first summit of Iraq’s neighboring countries was held in the Iranian capital of Tehran in 2004 upon an initiative by the Iranian government. The next sessions were held in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Egypt respectively.

The current summit seeks to find ways to boost security cooperation among regional countries and help the Iraqi government restore stability and the rule of law in the war-torn country.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a meeting with his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani on Sunday highlighted the significance of restoring security and stability in Iraq and hoped the new government of Iraq would be established in the near future.