On December 22, 2015, President Xi Jinping met with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi of Iraq at the Great Hall of the People. The two sides decided to further elevate bilateral relations and establish China-Iraq strategic partnership.

Xi Jinping pointed out that in recent years China-Iraq relations have maintained a stable development momentum. The announcement of China and Iraq to establish a strategic partnership has laid a more solid foundation for the development of bilateral relations in the future. The two sides should take this opportunity to promote better development of China-Iraq relations at a higher level.

Xi Jinping expressed his appreciation for the positive progress made by the Iraqi government in promoting political reform, accelerating economic reconstruction and improving security situation. Xi Jinping stressed that China supports Iraq's efforts in safeguarding national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and is willing to conduct close exchanges and cooperation with Iraq in various fields and at various levels. China firmly supports Iraq's measures to maintain national security and stability, and is willing to closely cooperate with Iraq in this field. China is willing to, within the framework of the "Belt and Road", strengthen the docking of development strategies of the two sides, conduct mutually beneficial cooperation, help Iraq consolidate reconstruction in such key areas as energy, electricity, communications and infrastructure construction, and encourage and support Chinese enterprises to engage in more large-scale project construction concerning Iraq's national economy and Iraqi people's livelihood and carry out investment and financial cooperation. China is willing to train more talents urgently needed by Iraq for the economic and social development, and provide more exchange opportunities for youths, scholars, and people from the media and think tanks from Iraq to visit China.

Xi Jinping pointed out that the situations in West Asia and North Africa exert global influences. The fundamental solution to the Syrian issue lies in political settlement. The international community should promote the political settlement process of regional hotspot issues, support regional countries to explore development paths in line with their own national conditions, strengthen social and economic governance capacity building in an orderly manner, and realize lasting stability and security in the region. China is willing to strengthen communication and coordination with Iraq and jointly commit to maintaining peace, stability and development in the region.

Haider al-Abadi expressed that both Iraq and China are ancient civilizations and bilateral relations enjoy a long history. His current visit to China aims to strengthen bilateral cooperation in areas like economy, energy, electricity, communications, infrastructure and security, as well as to further promote friendly exchanges between the two peoples. Iraq welcomes Chinese enterprises to increase investment in Iraq, and is willing to try best to provide necessary guarantee for this. Iraq supports the coordinated efforts by the international community to solve the Syrian issue peacefully and maintain lasting security and stability in the region.

State Councilor Yang Jiechi attended the meeting.