Baghdad - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began Sunday a landmark visit to Iraq, the first-ever by an Iranian head of state to the Arab neighbour, once considered a bitter foe. Ahmadinejad was greeted by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and an honour guard of Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, which is also home to the US embassy.
The Iranian leader is accompanied by the ministers of energy, economy, finance and roads and communications as well as the foreign minister.
The composition of the delegation reflects Tehran's drive to develop already strong economic ties. A number of bilateral agreements are expected to be signed, mainly on oil, energy, transportation and investment.
Iraqi markets are flooded with cheap Iranian goods and Baghdad's trade imbalance with the Iranians is estimated to bring them some 7 billion dollars a year.
Iran is eyeing Iraq's Kurdish Autonomous Region as a lucrative place to invest more money given the relative security prevailing in the northern Iraqi region and flexible legislations.
Talks will also include recent allegations by Iraqi oil sector that Iran has taken over some shared oil fields as well a dispute over the border, drawn in accordance with a 1975 agreement and breached during the 8-year-long Iran-Iraq war.
Ahmadinejad's visit comes as tension with the US is running high, mainly over Tehran's nuclear programme.
Washington is also accusing Tehran of meddling in Iraqi affairs and backing militias with money and weapons, accusations of which the Iranians are dismissive.
"It is absurd that those who have 160,000 troops in Iraq accuse us of interfering there," Ahmadinejad was quoted by the Iranian news agency, IRNA, as saying ahead of the visit.
Iran, the largest Shiite Muslim country, has growing clout in Iraq where not only the majority of the population is Shiite but its government too is led by a Shiite-dominated ruling coalition.
