Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki has expressed his gratitude to China for helping rebuild his country from the ravages of war.

In his meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Al-Maliki noted the long-standing friendship between China and Iraq and said Chinese businesses are welcome to explore a wider range of investment areas in his country.

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China has become the largest trading partner of Iraq in the oil and electricity sectors as a result of remarkable achievements in bilateral cooperation between the two countries in recent years.

With major Chinese companies PetroChina and CNPC pouring in substantial investments into Iraqi oil production, Baghdad is hoping to ramp up its global oil sales to fund the reconstruction of its war-damaged infrastructure.

Al-Maliki hopes that Iraq's strong economic ties with China would now cascade into the political and security fronts as he specifically called for "cooperation in the field of fighting terrorism."

For his part, Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressed China's sincerity in helping Iraq maintain its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.  He echoed the Chinese government's commitment to help speed up Iraq's political rebuilding as well as its fight against terrorism.

The meeting of the two leaders included discussions on arming Iraq's hard-pressed security forces, which are struggling to curb a spate of violence that has killed thousands of people.

Wang's visit to Baghdad was the first by a high-ranking Chinese official since 2003.