Iraqi PM’ Kuwait visit Wednesday aims to strengthen joint relations, MP says:

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The official visit of Iraq‘s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to Kuwait, scheduled to start on Wednesday, aims at strengthening joint relations, Legisalture of Maliki’s National Alliance, Ali al-Shilah said, calling on the Kuwaitis to “understand Iraq‘s demands towards the issue of Kuwait‘s compensations.” “A delegation, led by Maliki is scheduled to head for Kuwait today (Wednesday) on an official visit, taking place within Maliki’s viewpoint and the viewpoints of the Iraqi government, Parliament and President, to boost relations with Kuwait,” Shilah said, adding that “both Kuwaiti and Iraqi peoples have faced injustice during the former Iraqi regime, despite fact that we are both linked with strong fraternal relations.” The Iraqi Prime Minister’s Media Advisor, Ali al-Moussawi, told IraqiNews.com news agency on Tuesday that Prime Minister, Nouri al-Malilki, would visit Kuwait on Wednesday to discuss bilateral relations between both countries. Shilah said: “We are determined to improve our bilaral relations and to reach fraternal and friendly understanding to settle all problems, hoping that the Brothers in Kuwait will help us, especially regarding the issue of the compensations, because we don’t want the Iraqi people to pay the price of the crimes of (Iraq‘s former President) Saddam Hussein and what he did against Kuwait.” “We hope that the Brothers in Kuwait understand that, and to work together with us to settle a large number of suspended dossiers, in such a way that secures the interest of both peoples, as there are dossiers that need great cooperation, including the compensations dossier, which we hope, that in the event of having failed to end (Kuwait‘s) debts, would be decreased to the minimum level, in order to enable Iraq concentrate on employing all its resources to build its infrastructure,” Shilah said. The dossier of the Iraqi-Kuwaiti relations comprises a large number of suspended dossiers, most outstanding of which is the issue of the compensations paid by Iraq to Kuwait, for its Kuwait‘s occupation in 1990 and Kuwait‘s position towards Iraq‘s exclusion of the UN Charter’s 7th Article, along with the demarcation of the borders between the two countries and the issue of the remains of Kuwaitis lost in Iraq. Iraq is under the UN Charter’s 7th article, following the UN Security Council‘s Resolution No. 678 of 1990, that took place after the entrance of the Iraqi forces into Kuwait in August of the same year, according to which the Security Council resolution allowed the use of armed troops to force Iraq out of Kuwait. IT / SKH 340