The Center for Research and Development (CRD) at the American University of Iraq-Baghdad (AUIB) organized a seminar, “Iraq First and Common Interests: New Tools for Iraq’s Foreign Policy,” featuring guest speaker Mr. Farhad Alaaldin, Advisor on Foreign Affairs to the Prime Minister of Iraq. Mr. Alaaldin addressed AUIB students and members of faculty in attendance, most of whom from the College of International Studies, and engaged them in discussion on the incumbent government’s foreign policy and national strategy on key issues in building the state and society.
“Iraq is the land that raised us. Anything we do is to have it back as a beacon for nations,” was a student’s answer to Mr. Alaaldin’s question, “what is Iraq to you?” The country has been at war for decades; “this is not putting Iraq first,” said the guest speaker, advocating “integrating Iraq with the world” and positioning it as a place that reconciles rival powers, such as in mediating the Saudi-Iranian détente, rather than being “an arena of conflict.” In this context, he spoke of the Development Road, “a project based on Al-Faw port” and a system of highways and railways traversing the country from South to North, forming a crucial link in “the shortest route from China to Europe.” The aim, according to Mr. Alaaldin, is to create a “balance” of interests of otherwise conflicting powers, “tying” those interests to Iraq, thereby advancing the country’s own interests: “We want to be a normal country where new generations would be able to study and have jobs,” he said.