URGENT: Maliki: “Presence of experts, trainers during weapons purchasing, natural, but foreign forces will leave Iraq by the end of the year.”

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraq’s Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has said on Thursday that the presence of foreign experts and trainers during the purchase of weapons is a natural thing, reiterating that the presence of the US troops in his country would end by end of the current year

“The presence of the American troops is settled and shall end by the end of the current year, according to an agreement between both sides, and there won’t remain a single foreign soldier in the country,” a statement by the Prime Minister’s office reported.

But Prime Minister Maliki said that the “resence of foreign experts and trainers during the process of purchase of weapons is something natural and is followed in other parts of the world.”

“Iraq has managed to become a democratic state, enjoying freedom of politics and mass media; and it is witnessing nowadays a movement in all political, economic and social fields, following the stability that took place in the security situation,” the statement quoted Maliki as saying.

He pointed out that “everybody is striving to settle the current problems, thing that must take place according to the Constitution, and the important thing is that they have discovered that there can’t be proper living and the state’s administration, unless by agreement of all parties.”

“The government’s trend is now directed towards the development of the economy and better investment of fortunes, along with their distribution in a just form, as well as the accelerated rising of development in all fields,” Maliki said.
Aswat al-Iraq