The Iraqi president expects to sign a series of agreements during his first state visit to France that caps efforts at rebuilding bilateral ties more than six years after Paris spurned the war to oust Saddam Hussein.
Jalal Talabani is heading a delegation including Iraq's defense, foreign and finance ministers during his four-day stay in France aimed at signing deals to strengthen relations.
President Nicolas Sarkozy was hosting Talabani on Monday for a meeting and state dinner. Talabani has visited France several times since the 2003 war, but never with the pageantry of a state visit. In March, France said it had re-entered Iraq's lucrative arms market for the first time since 1990, with the sale of nearly $500 million worth of military helicopters.