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Iraq
Kuwait to name envoy to Iraq soon
2008-07-11
KUWAIT CITY - Kuwait said Thursday it would soon name an ambassador to Iraq in view of the improving security in the neighbouring country. The move to send an envoy to Iraq was in line with similar decisions taken by Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait's Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Jarallah told the state news agency KUNA. Kuwait, Bahrain and UAE are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a political and economic alliance that also includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman.

The move is another diplomatic triumph for the Iraqi government after the UAE named an ambassador to Baghdad and scrapped debts owed by Iraq estimated to be seven billion dollars, including interest payments.
It's a good week for the Iraqis. Increasing number of Gulf states are getting on board, the Turks are more willing to talk, the debts are being forgiven, and the al-Qaeda deaders are becoming just that in Mosul.
Bahrain said it would open a new embassy in Baghdad, but did not set a date. Jordan and Saudi Arabia have also signalled their intention to open their diplomatic missions in Iraq. No Arab country has had top diplomatic representation in Iraq since Egyptian ambassador, Ihab al-Sharif, was abducted and then killed shortly afterwards in 2005.

Jarallah said the new Kuwaiti embassy would likely be located in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, where the US and Iraqi cabinet and parliament and several ministries are located.

On Wednesday, Kuwait said it would hold talks with Iraq over reparations imposed on Baghdad for the invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Kuwait had previously agreed to consider Baghdad's request for reduction of compensation payments, of which Kuwait has so far received about 14 billion dollars. Iraq will still have to pay about 27 billion dollars in war reparations to its neighbour. A percentage of Iraq's oil revenues, initially set at 30 percent and then reduced to five percent, is diverted to a UN reparation body, which paid out millions of dollars in war claims to Iraq's neighbours.
Posted by:Steve White

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