ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - A top Iraqi government delegation, led by Hamid al-Shatri, head of the National Intelligence Service, arrived in Damascus on Friday to meet with the Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and a number of government officials to discuss a set of key topics, including strengthening bilateral ties in the fields of security and trade.

"The official delegation includes officials from the Border Forces Command at the Ministry of Interior, the Ministries of Oil and Trade, and the Border Ports Authority,” reads a statement by the Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani’s media office.

"The Iraqi delegation will discuss with the Syrian side cooperation in the field of combating terrorism, strengthening arrangements related to securing the shared border strip, and strengthening them against any potential violations or threats,” the statement continued.

It detailed that the top Iraqi government delegation will discuss "expanding trade opportunities for the benefit of the two brotherly peoples and studying the possibility of rehabilitating the Iraqi pipeline to transport oil through Syrian territory to Mediterranean ports.”

The government delegation in Damascus at Prime Minister Sudani's behest will also reiterate Iraq’s support for “the unity and sovereignty of Syrian territory” and stress the importance of Syria's stability for Iraqi and regional security.

The visit comes just a week after Sudani met Sharaa during a surprise visit to Qatar, marking the first meeting of its kind between the two premiers.

Sudani has already extended an invitation to Sharaa to attend next month’s Arab League summit in Baghdad, kicking off political controversy in Iraq relating to Sudani's previous participation in armed groups in the country and an outstanding Iraqi warrant for his arrest.

Sharaa has not yet confirmed his plans to attend the summit.

A rebel offensive in early December of last year, spearheaded by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), saw the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, ending the Assad family's five-decade-long rule and shifting the political scene in Syria and the Middle East.

A new interim government was formed in late January that resulted in former HTS leader Sharaa being declared president to oversee the affairs of the transitional government.

The Iraqi government, closely aligned with Iran, supported Assad’s regime.