Baghdad, Iraq, 19 June 2021 - The United Nations Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) and United Nations Population Fund Deputy Executive Director (DED), Mr. Ib Petersen, and UNFPA Regional Director for the Arabic States, Dr. Luay Shabaneh, started yesterday a five-day visit to Iraq.

During the visit, Mr. Petersen and Dr. Shabaneh will focus on the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, which is also a focus of the UNFPA country programme 2020-2024 and the Iraqi national priorities. The high-level UNFPA officials will discuss with the Government, civil society organizations and partners in Baghdad and Erbil how UNFPA can further support the Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government to achieve the 2030 Agenda and meet Iraq’s commitments made at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD 25) in Nairobi on November 2019.

“I am delighted to be in Iraq as part of my field visit to the Middle East. I look forward to hearing from government officials and civil society representatives how UNFPA can increase its support during the country’s recovery period after years of humanitarian crises to ensure that Iraq meets the goals of the Decade of Action,” said Mr. Petersen from the Baghdad Airport.

During the visit, they will also conduct two field visits to camps for the internally displaced persons and meet with women and young people from the host communities to discuss their needs and how UNFPA can scale up its programmes to support their ambitions.

Mr. Petersen and Dr. Shabaneh will depart Iraq on 22 June heading to Amman, Jordan.

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For more information, please contact:

In Iraq: Salwa Moussa, Communications Specialist, smoussa@unfpa.org  - +9647809171035

In Cairo: Samir Aldarabi, Regional Communication Adviser Arab States Regional Office aldarabi@unfpa.org - +201068484879