Baghdad - Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Naji al-Otri is expected to begin a two-day visit to Iraq at the head of a ministerial delegation on Tuesday, an Iraqi government spokesman said.

Al-Otri will hold meetings with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, his two vice-presidents, and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki over the course of his visit, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told reporters.

The 10 Syrian ministers accompanying him will also meet with their Iraqi counterparts, al-Dabbagh said.

Al-Otri's visit to Iraq is the latest in a series of meetings between Iraq and Syria aimed at improving cooperation on trade, resources, and security.

According to a report published in the London-based Arabic-language daily al-Hayat two weeks ago, al-Maliki and al-Otari will discuss building a pipeline linking Iraq's rich oil fields near the northern city of Kirkuk with Syria and a pipeline linking the western Iraqi natural gas field at Okaz with the Syrian market.

Al-Maliki and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad first discussed the projects in a conversation on the sidelines of the recent Arab League summit in Doha, Qatar, the newspaper said.

Security, particularly along the Iraqi-Syrian border, may also figure in their conversations.

Iraqi and US officials formerly complained that Syria was not doing enough to stop militants from crossing into Iraq, though Iraqi officials credited Syria with cutting down on such activity during a March visit to Iraq from Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallim.

A commando strike by US forces based in Iraq on a village across the Syrian border last October strained relations between the two countries, which restored full diplomatic relations in 2008 after a hiatus of 25 years. (dpa)