On 25 August, a delegation led by the Acting Head of Operations Dirk D’hulst met with the Deputy Minister and Head of the Federal Intelligence and Investigations Agency (FIIA) Lt. General Amer Saddam at the FIIA Headquarters in Baghdad.

Since the establishment of EUAM Iraq, the Mission has advised the FIIA in the fields of countering violent extremism, counterterrorism, organised crime, the recovery of stolen artefacts, and on cooperation with INTERPOL.

The Deputy Minister emphasised his appreciation of the Mission’s readiness to support the agency’s efforts in the struggle against various forms of criminality and assured his commitment for cooperation.

The importance of gender equality and gender mainstreaming in the agency’s future activities together with the further development of the first mixed Gender Intelligence Analysis Unit was also discussed and highlighted in the meeting.   

The Deputy Minister Saddam underlined the need to attract more female applicants for the analyst positions in the agency. Additionally, potential future fields of engagement, such as the fight against corruption and human trafficking were highlighted.

Both sides assured their commitment to further increase the mutual engagement and to promote peace and security in Iraq despite the challenging circumstances due to COVID-19.