Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will begin a tour of the neighboring countries, which will take him to Turkey and Iran.

His office has said that the tour will begin on Wednesday but it gave no further details, Xinhua reported.

Maliki's media advisor Yassin Majeed noted that a host of Iraqi ministers will accompany the prime minister, Egypt's MENA news agency reported.

Maliki will meet with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul before leaving Turkey for Iran, he said

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad paid an official visit to Iraq in March 2008.12.

Source: Press TV, 19 December 2008