CAIRO: Iraq’s prime minister is in Egypt on a two-day trip to improve relations with one of the Middle East’s power players.

Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki’s last visit to Egypt was in 2007 as part of an international conference to discuss his war-ravaged country’s future. He arrived in Cairo on Sunday.

Ties between the two countries deteriorated after Egypt’s ambassador to Iraq was abducted and killed in 2005 by Al-Qaida.

The trip appeared intended to drum up support in the Arab world, where Iraq’s Shia-led government and its close ties to Iran are often viewed with suspicion by its mostly Sunni neighbors. -AP