BAGHDAD: Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani began an official visit to Syria on Sunday, the first by an Iraqi premier since the outbreak of the Syrian war in 2011, in a trip aimed at securing their shared border and bolstering economic ties.

Iraq and Syria, which have close economic, maintained relations throughout Syria’s civil war even as other Arab states withdrew their ambassadors and closed their embassies in Syria.

Baghdad and Damascus cooperated in the fight against militant group Daesh, which spread from Iraq into Syria and at one point controlled more than a third of both countries.

Farhad Alaaldin, foreign affairs adviser to the prime minister, said Sudani was set to discuss combatting the flow of drugs, especially the amphetamine Captagon, and preventing the infiltration of Daesh militants over their shared 600km border.

The prime minister would also discuss trade and economic cooperation and possibilities for reopening an oil export pipeline in the Mediterranean, which could help Iraq diversify its export routes, he said.

Reuters