The Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Dr. Naeem Al-Aboudi, received the Japanese Ambassador to Iraq, Mr. Matsumoto Hotoshi, and they discussed cooperation and cultural and academic exchange programs between the universities of the two countries, in the presence of representatives of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) office in Iraq.

During the meeting, the Minister of Education stressed the importance of strengthening academic relations and providing an environment of cooperation responsible for providing scholarships and research fellowships in various disciplines, especially those related to energy, information and communication technology, and engineering and technical fields.

He expressed the readiness of Iraqi universities to receive international students as part of the “Study in Iraq” initiative and to promote academic work paths in terms of joint scientific research, training fields, exchange of experiences and programs.

For his part, the Japanese ambassador expressed his country’s readiness to open horizons of coordination with educational institutions in Iraq and work to strengthen bilateral relations between Iraqi universities and their Japanese counterparts, mutual visits and participation in workshops, seminars and international conferences held in both countries and organizing forms of cooperation through memorandums of mutual understanding.

In this context, the representatives of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) office in Iraq expressed their readiness to expand cooperation in technical fields and to strengthen the scientific partnership environment that could contribute to the development of students’ skills and abilities in the labor market and crystallize more scientific and academic cooperation and understanding.

Department of Relations and Information
Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research