Al-Sudani outlines his cabinet's priorities during a visit to Iraq's poorest governorate

Shafaq News/ Reducing oil reliance, eradicating corruption, and combating poverty are the priorities of Iraq's new cabinet , Mohammad Shia al-sudani outlined during a visit to the country's poorest governorate, al-Diwaniyah, on Saturday.

"Our vision is clear. We should primarily identify the problems and obstacles facing our people in all the governorates," al-Sudani said in a meeting attended by the health minister earlier today.

The prime minister said, "amid the deterioration of the economy's drive sectors, reform should never be delayed. We cannot continue to rely on oil as the treasury's main income."

"Combating corruption is on the top of our priorities since such a phenomenon is a serious threat to all the policies, programs, and plans that any government may implement," he added.

"In line with this vision, we opted to start from al-Diwaniyah; the governorate with the highest poverty and unemployment rates in the country. The poor economic status has severely affected the living conditions of all its residents," he said.

"The government attaches great importance to social protection. It adopts an internationally-recognized scientific approach that contributes to reducing poverty," he explained, "this is not limited to low income. We target all the dimensions of poverty. This includes services, health, and housing."

"Each governor and governorate should place the necessary projects on the poverty map the ministry of planning provides," said al-Sudani, "the budget of the governorates' infrastructure will be controlled by the government."