Middle East News
Iraq's President Talabani plans retirement
Mar 13, 2009, 15:12 GMT
Baghdad - Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is looking forward to retiring after his term expires at the end of the year, Iraq's Buratha news agency reported on Friday, citing an interview with Iranian television.
'I think at the end of this year, my tour will be finished, and I hope to be retired, to go back home and to have time for writing my memoirs,' the Iraqi president told the English-language Iranian television station Press TV in the interview broadcast Friday.
Talabani was in Tehran Wednesday for a summit of leaders from Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) member states. ECO is a regional group of western- and Central-Asian countries. Talabani and Syrian Vice-President Faruq al-Shara were invited to participate as guests.
Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, is Iraq's first president since the US-led invasion in 2003.
The Iraqi parliament named him president in 2005. His term will expire at the end of the year if elections scheduled for next December take place as planned.
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