The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Planning discussed with the Chinese side the mechanisms for signing a memorandum of understanding between the two sides. The Ministry of Planning stated in a statement: "Today, we held a joint technical meeting with the Chinese government to discuss a number of technical and developmental issues related to organizing relations, headed by the Undersecretary of the Ministry for Technical Affairs Maher Hammad Johan, in the presence of the Director General of the International Cooperation Department Saher Abdul-Kazem, while the Chinese side was represented by its ambassador to Iraq, Cui Wei." The meeting discussed Iraq's priorities within the five-year national development plan, which was recently launched, and providing support in development activities from the Chinese side to achieve its goals. The two sides discussed the memorandum of understanding to be signed between the two sides, to benefit from the Chinese experience in alleviating poverty, as China is one of the successful and advanced countries in this field, in addition to discussing the issue of technical support provided by the Chinese side in two areas: the first is training programs designated for Iraq and the other is training programs designated for the Middle East region and Iraq's participation in them. Source: National Iraqi News Agency