US vice president-elect Joe Biden, on a trail-blazing visit to Iraq ahead of Barack Obama taking over as US president, on Tuesday discussed with Iraq's prime minister ways to strengthen links between Washington and Baghdad.
Officials told AFP that Biden met Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki after arriving in the Iraqi capital from Afghanistan via Kuwait on Monday and first holding discussions with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.
Deputy Prime Minister Rafa al-Essawi's office said the Maliki-Biden talks had focused on improving relations with the administration of president-elect Obama who will take over on January 20 from President George W. Bush.
"They discussed important issues focused on boosting relations between Baghdad and Washington ahead of the new administration," the statement said.
"They also talked about improving economic cooperation and touched on issues related on the US military presence in Iraq in the wake of the signing of the military accord between the two governments."
The United States, which invaded Iraq in 2003 and toppled president Saddam Hussein, currently has 146,000 soldiers in Iraq. Washington signed an agreement with Baghdad last November allowing its combat forces to remain in the country until the end of 2011.
Obama has promised to pull one or two combat brigades out of Iraq every month over a period of 16 months, leaving a small security force of unspecified size remaining.
