A handout picture released by Iraq's Foreign Minister's Media Office on June 7, 2020 shows Fuad Hussein, Iraq's new Foreign Minister, taking part in a meeting upon receiving his duties in the capital Baghdad. (IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTRY / AFP)

BAGHDAD - Iraqi newly-appointed Foreign Minister Fuad Mohammed Hussein said on Monday that the Iraqi foreign ministry is preparing for an upcoming round of the US-Iraqi strategic dialogue.

In April, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Washington and Baghdad will hold a strategic dialogue in mid-June to take a decision on the future of the US forces in Iraq

A statement by Hussein's media office said that Hussein made these comments during his meeting with US Ambassador to Iraq Matthew Tueller, in which Hussein considered the next round of dialogue as an "important station that will frame the priorities in Baghdad and Washington."

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For his part, Tueller congratulated Hussein on the occasion of assuming his post as foreign minister, looking forward to improving the bilateral relations between the two countries, the statement added.

The meeting came two days after the Iraqi parliament approved the remaining members of Prime Minister's Mustafa al-Kadhimi's cabinet, including Hussein's portfolio, a month after the parliament passed most of al-Kadhimi's cabinet members.

In April, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Washington and Baghdad will hold a strategic dialogue in mid-June to take a decision on the future of the presence of the US forces in Iraq.

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The relations between Baghdad and Washington witnessed a tension since Jan 3 after a US drone struck a convoy at Baghdad airport, which killed Qassem Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy chief of Iraq's paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces.

The US airstrike prompted the Iraqi parliament on Jan 5 to pass a resolution requiring the government to end the presence of foreign forces in Iraq.

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Over 5,000 US troops have been deployed in Iraq to support the Iraqi forces in the battles against the Islamic State militants, mainly providing training and advising to the Iraqi forces.