Turkey ? Iraq’s president said Saturday that he wants to promote more Turkish investment in his country, where Turkish troops recently carried out an eight-day ground incursion.

Jalal Talabani spoke to members of a Turkish-Iraqi business group at the end of a visit aimed at easing tensions caused by Turkey’s offensive against Kurdish rebels inside Iraq.

Talabani, himself a Kurd, says Iraq wants “to forge strategic relations in all fields, including oil, the economy, trade, culture and politics with Turkey.” He suggested that the two countries set up a body whose aim would be to strengthen ties between the neighbors.