Contact: Speaker’s Press Office,

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Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a photo opportunity today with His Excellency Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq, before a bipartisan leadership meeting.  Below are the Speaker’s remarks:

Speaker Pelosi.  Good afternoon, everyone.  It is a great honor to welcome the Prime Minister of Iraq to the United States Capitol.  

You know, we Americans feel that we’ve had a close relationship over the years.  I want to continue working together for stability in the region, to address the COVID crisis – and I express the condolences of the American people, and the Congress of the United States, too, for the loss of life in the COVID ward – and we want to crush the pandemic, hopefully, working together.  We’re pleased with the President’s announcement of COVAX, the vaccines to Iraq.  To bolster democracy throughout the region, and certainly help with the upcoming elections in Iraq.  And to combat the climate crisis, which is immediate to all of us, and all of our actions have an impact – so global cooperation is so important, and Iraq is so important to that. 

So, following this meeting, we will be meeting in a bipartisan way with Members of Congress, of the Leadership.  A couple of them served in Iraq, two of our Members served in Iraq, and they’re very eager to see the Prime Minister, to pay their respects, to have a conversation about how we can, working together, accomplish our environmental, our health, our economic, our democratic goals. 

With that, I’m very pleased to yield to the distinguished Prime Minister of Iraq.  Welcome to the Capitol. 

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