Baghdad - The United States opened its largest embassy worldwide in Baghdad's Green Zone on Monday, in an inauguration attended by Iraqi President Jalal al-Talabani and other Iraqi officials.

Speaking about the structure during the inauguration, Talabani said the US embassy in Baghdad was "not only a US government headquarters, but an expression of amity between the governments and people of the two countries," the Voices of Iraq news agency

reported.

Also attending the ceremony were US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and several US military officials.

Opened amid heavy security, the embassy compound is also said to be the most expensive embassy that the US has ever built.

Critics of the US military presence in Iraq see the complex as a "symbol of occupation."

On Thursday January 1, US forces handed over control of the fortified Green Zone to Iraqi authorities, five years after the US- led invasion of the country.

The US also returned Saddam Hussein's palace, which had been the US headquarters in the city.

The so-called Green Zone is a fortified base for Western private military contractors, and is home to the Iraqi parliament and government, as well as US, British and Australian embassies. (dpa)