Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi will pay an official visit to China from Sept. 19 to 23 at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying announced Thursday. 

"The prime minister's visit to China is of major significance for Iraq and could establish partnerships of major projects with China, which could lead to the upcoming economic revolution in Iraq," the state-run al-Sabah newspaper quoted the Iraqi economist Ghadeer al-Attar as saying.

"Abdul Mahdi is likely to agree with Chinese companies on the construction of roads and railway projects and the establishment of new international roads linking Iraq with neighboring countries, as well as the establishment of major industrial cities in the country," said al-Attar.

On Sunday, al-Sabah newspaper quoted China's Ambassador to Iraq Zhang Tao as saying that the "Chinese side attaches great importance to developing relations with Iraq, and looks forward to seizing the opportunity of this visit to make joint efforts hand in hand with the Iraqi side to further consolidate and deepen Sino-Iraqi relations."

(With input from Xinhua)