Otri's visit follows a mid-October trip to the Syrian capital by his Iraqi counterpart Nuri al-Maliki, and comes after the two countries ended a year-long row in September by restoring their respective ambassadors.

"There is popular political will to boost cooperation between our two countries," Maliki said at a televised news conference in Baghdad, standing beside Otri.

"We talked about collaboration in agriculture and connecting the two countries' electricity networks ... and we have agreed to establish free-trade zones and encourage commerce between the two countries."

Maliki said that while political ties between the two countries had improved, he wanted to push Iraq's ministries to quickly implement agreements in a bid to ramp up economic relations.

Baghdad and Damascus agreed last year to build two pipelines linking Iraq to Mediterranean sea ports, via Syria, for exporting crude oil, which accounts for the vast majority of Baghdad's government income.

Otri, meanwhile, said the two countries would have to improve road and rail connections, calling for Baghdad and Damascus "to restore warm relations".

Otri's visit is his first to Iraq since the country formed a new government on December 21, more than nine months after parliamentary elections.

The Syrian premier last visited Baghdad in April 2009, on a trip which was the first to Iraq by a Syrian prime minister since the 2003 US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

Iraq and Syria restored full diplomatic ties on September 24, little more than a year after they recalled their envoys after a row erupted when Baghdad accused Damascus of harbouring the masterminds of devastating attacks in August 2009 in the Iraqi capital.

The diplomatic flap had thrown into disarray extensive efforts made in the previous years to boost ties, which had been weak under Saddam.

Diplomatic relations between Damascus and Baghdad were severed in 1980 when the countries were ruled by rival wings of the Baath party and after Syria backed Iran in a devastating war with Iraq that broke out that year.

Relations started to thaw in 2000 and the two nations decided in 2006 to resume formal ties, three years after the invasion. Iraq's first ambassador to Syria for nearly 30 years arrived in Damascus to start work in February 2009.

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