Kuwait looks to closer cooperation with Iraq

[Stillw8n]

Kuwait looks to closer cooperation with Iraq

Kuwait’s deputy prime minister has expressed his country’s readiness to cooperate with Iraq to remove it from Chapter VII of the United Nations’ charter after it complies fully with its commitments.

Shaikh Sabah Al Khalid, also his country’s foreign minister, said that Kuwait appreciated the international commitments required from Iraq and that it took the matter fully into consideration.

The minister said that Kuwait was ready to provide all the information it has about the remains of Kuwaiti nationals in Iraq and to work closely with the Iraqis to settle the issue pending between the two countries, local media reported.

“What has happened to the remains of more than 360 Kuwaitis and others is still unknown even though long years have now passed,” Shaikh Sabah said in remarks on the sideline of a reception hosted by the Bahraini ambassador in Kuwait City to celebrate his country’s 41st National Day and 13th anniversary of the king’s accession to the throne.

Kuwait and Iraq are set to sign around 10 agreements soon while a joint commission will be established in the first quarter of 2013, the minister said, adding that efforts are being made to activate last April’s accords.

Relations between the two neighbours were cut off in 1990 when the regime of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussain invaded Kuwait.

The army was pushed out by a US-led international coalition in 1991 and Baghdad has been since requested to fulfill an array of United Nations obligations.

With Saddam’s fall, the two countries hoped to usher in a new positive phase in their relations. However, statements of good will issued both in Kuwait City and Baghdad have often been dampened by controversial issues touching on international obligations and at times on national sovereignty.

gulfnews.com