Iraq Intends To Normalize Relations With Iran

Baghdad intends to normalize relations with Iran, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri Al-Hadithi said. According to the VAM news agency (the United Arab Emirates), the minister said that the first round of the bilateral talks on the Iraqi-Iranian border is scheduled for early December, and the second round - for early January, RIA Novosti correspondent reports. According to the minister, the recent Tehran talks between Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan and Iranian President Mohammad Khatami gave an impulse to bilateral relations. The problem of prisoners of war and those who went missing during the Iraqi-Iranian War in 1980-1988 is the main obstacle, the minister stated. Recently Iraq passed the bodies of 70 Iranian servicemen to Iran and Iran - the bodies of 15 Iraqis.