On August 25, 2008, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and his Iraqi counterpart Nuri al-Maliki exchanged congratulatory messages to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic ties between China and Iraq.

Wen, in his message, lauded the smooth development of bilateral ties in the past half century. With the joint efforts of both sides, bilateral cooperation in all areas has achieved positive results in recent years. The Chinese government attaches great importance to friendly relations with Iraq and is ready to take the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic ties as an opportunity to build political trust, boost economic and trade cooperation, expand humanities exchanges and strengthen communication and coordination in international and regional affairs, so as to push for greater development of friendly cooperative relations between the two countries.

In his message, Nuri al-Maliki said Iraq cherishes ties with China and is ready to further push forward bilateral friendly cooperation for the benefit of both countries and their peoples.

On the same day, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari also exchanged congratulatory messages.