There is religious coordination between the Shiite institution Marja’ of Negev in Iraq and the Sunni institution of al-Azhar to combat terrorism, said Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab during a press conference with the Iraqi President Heidar al-Abadi Sunday.
Abadi is scheduled to meet with Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb Monday, Mahlab added, saying “There is a need to coordinate between Negev and al-Azhar to rectify the concepts of the religion.”
The Iraqi President, who is visiting Egypt for the first time since he assumed office, met Sunday with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fatah al-Sisi to discuss bilateral relations and international efforts to combat terrorism, stated Mahlab.
“The talks tackled coordination to face terrorism and the Islamic State group,” said Mahlab, adding that “terrorism became an organized trade.”
He added that there would be ongoing meetings between Egyptian ministries and their Iraqi counterparts in the following period, and that “we agreed to support Iraq and train the Iraqi people in all fields.”
“There are shared interests to stop the repercussions of terrorism in the region between both countries without interfering into any country’s interior affairs,” Abadi added during the conference.
Economically, Mahlab announced that Ministers of Petroleum of both countries will meet to activate the oil agreements between Egypt, Jordan and Iraq in the coming period.
