During a meeting with a French delegation, a member of the French parliaments and a number of the staff of the French embassy to Iraq, His Excellency, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Dr. Qusay Al-Suhail welcomed enhancing bilateral relations between France and Iraq, especially in the fields of culture and higher education. His Excellency said that Iraq is keen on implementing the axes of the government program, which includes a number of objectives such as promoting cultural exchange with international advanced countries in light of equal relations. Dr. Al-Suhail added that Iraq inks a bilateral agreement with France in the educational field. His Excellency highlighted the Ministry’s keenness on strengthening the research fellowship programs for students and faculty members, especially in terms of increasing the number of fellowships, conducting joint researches between the two countries and joint supervision on theses as well as the need for twinning between a number of Iraqi and French universities and conducting joint scientific events such as conferences and training opportunities for students, especially for Ph.D. His Excellency expressed the readiness of Iraq to grant a number of scholarships for French students and researchers in some specialties such as Arabic language, historical, cultural and heritage studies. Dr. Al-Suhail also reviewed also pointed out that the ministry is in the process of opening a specialized center to teach Arabic to non-native speakers, stressing that this center will be open to receive researchers and foreign students. For his part, the delegation expressed satisfaction with the meeting, stressing that it will be the beginning of the road for further coordination and cooperation in order to promote and develop cultural and scientific relations, especially in the higher education and scientific research sector. He stressed that the embassy will exert more efforts in facilitating the procedures for obtaining visa for Iraqi students and researchers, and urged the concerned authorities to increase the number of fellowships granted to Iraq. It worth mentioning that the meeting was attended by Iraqi side represented by Minister’s Office Director, Dr. Fouad Abd Al-Ameer Naji and Director General of Scholarships and Cultural Relations, Dr. Amjad Abd Al-Nabi Al-Sawad and the French side represented by Member of the French Parliament (French National Assembly), Mr. Frederic Petit, Counselor for Cultural and Humanitarian Cooperation at the French Embassy, Dr. Jean-Noel Palieu , Director of the French Institute in Iraq,  Deputy Consul of the Embassy French, Mr. Jean-Florian Feltz and Assistant Deputy French Ambassador, Ms. Maxine Gayroud.