Newly elected Iraqi President Kurdish Barham Saleh (L) stands with his predecessor Fuad Masum during the handing over ceremony in Baghdad on August 3, 2018. (AFP photo)

BAGHDAD, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- The new Iraqi President Barham Salih on Wednesday took over power from his predecessor Fuad Masoum in a ceremony held in Baghdad Green Zone.

A statement from the presidential office said that Masoum received Salih in his office in al-Salam Palace in the heavily fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad.

During the handover ceremony, Salih praised Masoum's efforts in office in the past years, according to the statement.

Salih asserted on the fact that "peaceful transfer of power in this transparent democratic form is an important step in consolidating the traditions of democracy," the statement said.

Barham Ahmed Salih, 58 years old, is a veteran Kurdish politician, born in the city of Sulaimaniyah in northeastern Iraq.

He was former prime minister of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region from 2001 to 2004. Later, he became deputy prime minister of the federal government and occupied many ministerial posts in Baghdad and Erbil in the last 15 years.

On Tuesday, the Iraqi parliament elected Barham Salih as the president of Iraq, who later named Adel Abdul-Mahdi as Prime Minister-designate and tasked him to form the new cabinet for the next four years.

According to Iraqi constitution, the Prime Minister-designate has 30 days to put together a cabinet and present it to parliament for approval, as the parliament must approve the government program and each individual minister in separate absolute majority votes.