Jordan, Iraq's house speakers discuss ties, region

The Lower House Speaker, Atef Tarawneh, and his Iraqi counterpart Salim Al-Jubouri, on Sunday said that the relations between Jordan and Iraq run "deep" in various fields, and underlined the importance of further developing, enhancing and upgrading these.
The two speakers made their remarks during official talks held at the Lower House, in the presence of a number of representatives and the Iraqi parliamentary delegation.
Tarawneh said, "We in Jordan, under the guidance of His Majesty King Abdullah II, spare no effort to enable and enhance the Jordanian-Arab relations, as we comply with the directives of His Majesty to be supportive of the Arab brothers, especially the Iraqis, in achieving their stability." "The region's concerns have become one, and the suffering of this sad triangle in which we live has pushed us to cooperate in the best interest of our people and the stability of our region," he added.
"The emergence of terrorism in the region was due to the absence of political stability and the continued absence of justice and equality. That is why the nuclei of terrorism were formed amidst security chaos in neighboring countries, and we all were stung by this disease after values of tolerance and moderation were replaced by extremism and fanaticism," Tarawneh explained. "Here is the terrorist organization, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), aka Daash, and others which are wreaking damage upon our societies after maiming the values of our religion, a moderate religion that showed the path of reconciliation with all cultures, religions and ideas, and the life of the Arab Prophet Muhammad, Peace be Upon Him, only confirms that notion," he said.
The house speaker affirmed that Jordan has always been supportive of Iraq as it has always been sincere in supporting Arabs, harnessing their potential for the good of this nation, and that "in recent years, our relationship has been evolving in spite of all obstacles, as our common interests and bilateral cooperation were a model for what inter-Arab relations must be, and must complete each other." On his part, Al-Jubouri said that the Iraqi-Jordanian relations have always been based on respect and appreciation, to serve the interests of the two brotherly peoples.
"The Jordanian House of Representatives, which I am glad to be in today, had recorded a bright history in the book of democracy in the region," Al-Jubouri said, noting that the Jordanian-Iraqi rooted brotherhood has always been a model, and what combines Iraq and Jordan is much larger than their differences.
He stressed the need to dry up the sources of terrorism, as it's akin to a disease that is spreading and which must be addressed immediately and forcefully.
Through the Jordanian parliament, the Iraqi top official called for launching the Unified Arab Law to Combat Terrorism initiative, to prevent terrorism before it happens, calling on Arab parliaments to quickly consider the law and submit it to the Arab Parliament, and have it passed as soon as possible by the Arab League so that it can be applied at the Arab level.
Al-Jubouri expressed his gratitude to His Majesty King Abdullah II and the people of Jordan "who always stood by Iraq in all circumstances, hosted Iraqi refugees and provided all help and assistance to them to enable them to face the ordeal that they had to endure."