BAGHDAD: Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday that his trip to Baghdad ahead of the U.S. military pullout marks a new beginning between Iraq and the United States, but protests in Iraq against his visit demonstrated the difficulties the relationship will face.

Biden landed in Baghdad Tuesday in a surprise visit to Iraq at a pivotal time as the last of the American troops withdraw, and the U.S. must establish a new relationship with a country that is home to billions of barrels of oil reserves and more closely aligned with neighboring Iran than the U.S. would like.

In comments surrounding his meetings with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Biden stressed that the U.S. and Iraq would continue to have a relationship long after the American troops have left the country.

“This is marking a new beginning of the relationship that will not only benefit the United States of America and Iraq. I believe it will benefit the region and will benefit the world.”

Biden said that people in both countries have had to overcome misperceptions about the relationship.

Many Iraqis, suspicious of American intentions in the region, have wondered why the U.S. is keeping such a large presence here, while Americans have questioned the prudence of spending money in Iraq while the U.S. is experiencing financial problems of its own.

Biden said the U.S. needs to have experts in a wide range of areas “on hand, in country.” The U.S. will also have thousands of security contractors to protect the embassy’s facilities in Baghdad, Kirkuk, Irbil and Basra, as well as diplomatic personnel.

Biden stressed that the new relationship with Iraq would include a robust security relationship, although few details of that were given.

Baghdad and Washington failed earlier this year to come to an agreement on keeping a small U.S. military presence in Iraq next year, meaning all U.S. forces must be out of the country by Dec. 31. The talks faltered on Baghdad’s insistence that the troops be subject to Iraq’s legal system, something that Washington adamantly rejected.

Some 13,000 U.S. troops remain, down from a one-time high of 170,000.

Maliki said the meetings Wednesday were designed to lay the ground for future cooperation and partnership.

“We’ve passed a very difficult page of confronting Al-Qaeda and terrorism in Iraq during which we achieved joint success ... We made many sacrifices from both sides,” Maliki added.

Alluding to the turmoil going on in the Middle East, Maliki also said the region was “sensitive” and that as changes occur, there should be cooperation between the U.S. and Iraq.