Kerry, Zebari convene fourth meeting of Political and Diplomatic JCC

United States (US) Secretary of State John Kerry and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari convened the fourth meeting of the Political and Diplomatic Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) under the US-Iraq Strategic Framework Agreement (SFA). Speaking at the fourth meeting of the Coordinating Committee, Kerry said that his talks with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari were "very good" as they discussed "the challenges that Iraq faces, the importance of Iraq and its relationship with the United States." Kerry, by noting that Iraq had taken a number of noteworthy diplomatic strides since the time that this committee met last September, said: "Iraq has settled a number of difficult issues with Kuwait stemming from the 1991 Gulf War. Iraq has dramatically improved relations with Jordan. It has improved its relations with Turkey. In addition, it has also begun to stabilize broader relationships in the region, and we welcome Foreign Minister Zebari’s plan to meet with Foreign Minister Davutoglu of Turkey in the very near future in order to discuss issues of mutual interest." Furthermore, Kerry, welcoming "the internal political process that Iraq has made over the last months", stressed that "Iraq sits at the intersection of regional currents of increasingly turbulent, violent and unpredictable actions, and Al Qaeda, as we have seen, has launched a horrific series of assaults on innocent Iraqis. And this Al Qaeda network, we know, stretches well beyond Iraq's borders." "With many Al Qaeda leaders now operating in Syria, we all need to accelerate our work in order to set the conditions for diplomatic settlement for the Syrian crisis" he noted. - Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said that his country has witnessed recently "the renewal of violence, of terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda more frequently." Zebari stated "The key message here, we've come here to seek your help and support and security cooperation with the Iraqi government, in fact, in counterterrorism and to have capacity-building for our security forces to stand up to face to this increasing threat from the nexus of Al Qaeda and the Nusra Front as a spillover coming over from Syria." He also stressed that "Al Qaeda is not a local threat; it's a global threat, as is proved by the recent closures of so many of your diplomatic missions in the region and in North Africa." Zebari noted on the Syrian crisis that "I would like to confirm that really, Iraq is having an independent and neutral position vis-a-vis the Syrian crisis. And we have said all along we believe that a political solution is the most viable way forward for Syria" by adding "but our position is difficult." The Strategic Framework Agreement established in 2008 is the foundation of the US-Iraq relationship and the vehicle to strengthen our bilateral strategic partnership. Political and diplomatic engagement is one of the seven areas of cooperation under the SFA to strengthen coordination and cooperation in areas of critical interest to both countries. The last JCC was held in Baghdad in September 2012, and remains an important venue for advancing key bilateral priorities in support of Iraqi and regional stability.