Iraq's Maliki assures Sweden on refugees' return home

Stockholm: Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki on Friday assured Sweden that Iraq was working on encouraging its citizens to return home.

More than 40,000 Iraqis have taken refuge in Sweden since 2003.

Maliki is in Sweden for a conference on rebuilding Iraq. He met with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.

"We have explained to the prime minister...that the Iraqi government has a political project, a clear and specific strategy in which it will spend lots of money to prepare the proper atmosphere and circumstances for the voluntary return of the refugees," he said.

"When there is more security and more jobs we already know tens of thousands of families in all the countries have expressed their desire to come back," he said.

The Swedish government recently reached an agreement with Iraq that could involve forcibly returning some people.