Brussels, 29/09/2009 (Agence Europe) - A troika meeting between the EU and Iraq took place in New York on 26 September 2009, attended by the Swedish foreign minister and acting head of the EU Council Carl Bildt, and an Iraqi delegation headed by the foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari. The meeting discussed regional issues like the Middle East peace process, relations with Syria and Iran and security issues in the Gulf, explained Bildt. The meeting was part of a policy dialogue between the EU and Iraq following the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime that started by an EU troika visit to Baghdad in September 2005. Two meetings at senior policy maker level have taken place - one in Baghdad in the summer of 2006 and one in Brussels on 19 May 2009. Negotiations over a partnership and cooperation agreement have also been started. Thus far, eight rounds of talks have taken place, explains a reliable Swedish source. Immediately after the meeting, Carl Bildt said that energy issues take up a large part of his packed agenda. (F.B./transl.fl).