A Conversation with H.E. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani

Join Dean James B. Steinberg for a conversation with His Excellency Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani, Prime Minister of Iraq. Foreign Policy Institute Senior Fellow Hafed Al-Ghwell will provide introductory remarks and Foreign Policy Institute Fellow Dr. Randa Slim will contribute to the Q&A.
The topic of discussion will be Iraq’s development trajectory focusing on its future security, prosperity, and evolving U.S.-Iraq partnership.
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Speaker Bio
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani
Engineer Muhammad Shia’ al-Sudani, a prominent Iraqi politician, became Prime Minister on 10/27/2022 after being officially assigned by the President of the Republic, Abd al-Latif Rashid, to form the government.
Al-Sudani descends from an Iraqi Maysan family, and an Iraqi-Arab clan of honorable clans, who, like the rest of Iraq's families and clans, offered martyrs and blood in the face of dictatorship, tyranny and terrorism. Al-Sudani won membership in the Parliament representing Baghdad for three consecutive terms (2014-2018-2021).
Al-Sudani made his contribution as a member of the parliamentary committee overseeing the implementation of the government program and strategic planning. He served as Minister of Labor and Social Affairs from 2014 to 2018, and at the same time, he served as acting Minister of Industry and the Ministries of Commerce and Finance.
Al-Sudani, held the position of Minister of Human Rights from 2010 to 2014, and was appointed acting minister of the Ministry of Migration and Displacement, the Ministry of Agriculture, and head of the Political Prisoners Association. Al-Sudani began his political life after the fall of the tyrant and Baath regime in 2003, and held a number of civil service positions between 2004 and 2010, including: the mayor of the city of Amarah (governor of Maysan), a member of the Maysan Provincial Council, then governor of Maysan. Al-Sudani was one of the candidates for the position of prime minister in 2019 after the resignation of former Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, amid demand protests in the capital, Baghdad, in October 2019.
Al-Sudani supported the protesters’ demands for political and economic reforms, improving services, employment, and social justice.
Al-Sudani proposed a government program for economic reforms, improving services, and combating poverty, unemployment, and corruption.
Al-Sudani adopted the call for national dialogue, the adoption of peaceful and constitutional means to resolve political differences at the national level, and raised a clear goal of building a prosperous and unified Iraq from south to north. He succeeded in forming a strong government capable of providing services with high quality, that believes in social justice and civil peace, just as he adopted in his government program the establishment of balanced and peaceful international relations with neighboring countries and the whole world.
Al-Sudani founded the Euphrates political movement in January 2019, and he is its elected general secretary. (Al-Furaatin) is a civil political party that calls for citizenship rights, social justice, and equality for all Iraqis. It won three seats in the 2021 Parliament elections.
Al-Sudani was a chairman and member of dozens of government service committees, drawing up local strategies and international relations, and mobilizing political and popular pressure to protect the Iraqi industry. And he revived it, raising the slogan (Made in Iraq), and he is known for his strong leadership in the fight against corruption, and he has returned millions of dollars to the ministries (Labour, Social Affairs, Industry, and Trade).
Al-Sudani (the owner of the white hand), as described by the international press, holds a bachelor's degree in agricultural sciences from the University of Baghdad.