After returning from his secret trip to Iraq, Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney Sunday said Canada must re-establish a diplomatic post in the Capital city of Iraq, Baghdad.

Citing the importance of re-establishing the office, Jason Kenney said that Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird will soon visit Iraq.

"We do have an ambassador who was accredited to the Iraqi government out of Amman, and we have diplomatic staff who are in there every month," Kenney told CTV. "Establishing an embassy is very expensive because of the security situation, but certainly we're looking at ways that we can re-engage. And that was part of the reason for my visit."

Minister Kenney last week visited Iraq and met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other Iraqi leaders including Iraq's migration and environment ministers.

More than 100,000 refugees from Syria have fled to Iraq and Canada in recent times has cited its failure to resettle more refugees due to the closure of their Damascas office.

Commemorating the 60^th anniversary of the Refugee Convention in Geneva December 2011, Jason Kenney vowed to accelerate the number of refugees by 20 percent, but the federal government failed to keep up the promise.

The federal government last year granted refugee status to the second lowest number of asylum seekers in over three decades according to statistics released by the Canadian Council for refugees.

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