BAGHDAD, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will visit Iran and Turkey from Wednesday, his office said in a statement on Friday.

    The statement did not give details of the trip, but noted that the trip comes within the framework of high-ranking joint committees between Iraq and that two neighboring countries.

    Egypt's MENA news agency quoted Maliki's media advisor Yassin Majeed as saying that the premier's visit is part of a tour of a number of neighboring countries, which will be accompanied by a host of his government ministers.

    Maliki will meet with Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan before leaving Turkey for Iran, he said.

    The visit to Iran came shortly after Iraq and the U.S. reached an agreement to allow American troops to stay until the end of 2011. Tehran, which regards the U.S. as an arch enemy, opposes thepact.

    Despite a bloody eight-year war in 1980's, Iraqi-Iranian ties have steadily improved since Iraq's Shiites came into power in 2003.

    Iraqi leaders, including President Jalal Talabani and Maliki have made multiple visits to Iran. In March, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad traveled to Iraq, the first by the head of Iran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

    The issue of dealing with Turkish rebels in northern Iraq is expected to be on Maliki's agenda during his stay in Turkey which has criticized Baghdad and the Kurdish regional authorities for not doing enough to curb PKK cross-border assailment.

    Turkey has launched air strikes, artillery bombings and ground operations against the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) militants hiding in the mountainous region of northern Iraq.

    At a meeting last month, Iraq, Turkey and the U.S. decided to form a joint committee to track the threat posed by PKK.