US-Iraq education, cultural committee sets second meeting

The second meeting of the US-Iraq Joint Coordination Committee on Educational and Cultural Cooperation (JCC) will be held at the US State Department on Tuesday, the department announced on Wednesday evening. The meeting, which will be co-chaired by Ann Stock, US assistant secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, and Ali Al-Adeeb, Iraqi minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, will provide an opportunity for the United States and Iraq to outline key areas for collaboration in education, cultural heritage and exchange programs as the countries move forward "in defining this new chapter in our bilateral relationship," the announcement said. The JCC is one of eight areas of cooperation outlined in the US-Iraq Strategic Framework Agreement, signed in 2008, "which serves as the compass guiding the relationship between the United States and Iraq in a new era of cooperation and coordination," it said. The meeting will provide an opportunity to follow up on initiatives discussed in this area at the Higher Coordination Committee meeting chaired by US Vice President Joe Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad last November, and at the JCC meeting in Baghdad last March, the statement said. In conjunction with the meeting, the Embassy of Iraq, with the support of the State Department, will host a two-day Iraqi American University Conference in Washington on Wednesday and next Thursday. The conference will bring together leaders of more than 50 academic institutions from both countries with the aim of expanding partnership and linkage opportunities, research collaborations, and student and scholar exchanges, the announcement said.