Jordan’s King Abdullah’s one-day visit to Baghdad on Jan. 14 was hailed as “historic” by Iraqi President Barham Saleh. It was the first trip to Iraq by the Jordanian monarch in more than a decade, and it came less than a month after the kingdom’s prime minister, Omar Razzaz, paid a visit on Dec. 28 to the Iraqi capital to sign a number of economic agreements.

A royal court statement said the king noted the strong ties between the two countries, affirming that Jordan stands by Iraq as it seeks to safeguard its security and stability, and works to fulfill the aspirations of the Iraqi people toward further prosperity and progress. It added that the two leaders “stressed the importance of bilateral agreements in the economic, trade, investment, energy, transport and construction sectors.”

During his visit, King Abdullah held talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, who was quoted as saying that the king’s visit signals the start of a new phase in Iraq, stressing that Jordan “has historically had a special place in the heart of Iraqis.”

Until the US invasion in 2003, Iraq was Jordan’s main regional trading partner. Under former leader Saddam Hussein, Jordan was given a special status as it relied on cheap Iraqi oil. Iraq, on the other hand, became dependent on Jordan’s port of Aqaba for its essential imports as it suffered from UN sanctions imposed in 1990 following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, which were lifted in 2010.