Statements Led to An Apology to Kuwaiti Parliament

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: National Alliance MP Ali Al-Shalah said today the government spokesman Ali Al-Dabbagh has announced that his words were “twisted” on Kuwaiti Mobarak port and the statement of Iraqiyah spokesman Haidar Al-Mulla on the same subject led the Parliament Speaker Usama Nujaifi to “apologize to the Speaker of Kuwaiti parliament”.  Shalah added to IraqiNews.com that “all problems should be solved by direct and objective dialogue without giving a chance for misunderstanding”.  He added that “all parliament members agree not to make crises”.  Dabbag’s statement resulted in diversified view points, where Iraqiyah bloc described it as “irresponsible” calling the Cabinet to have a nationalist stand against it, while State of Law member Izzat al-Shahbender called these statements as “personal”, calling foreign ministry to follow up the matter. Dabbagh denied yesterday what the Kuwaiti newspaper reported.  According to the paper, Dabbagh said “Iraq does not object for building Great Mobarak Port, because every state has the right for its sovereignty on its soil and resources”. On the declared political views, a group of parliamentary members organized a new gathering called 17 May gathering to follow up the question of the Kuwaiti port.  Alia Nusaif, member of the gathering, told IraqiNews.com, that this gathering does not represent any specific political entity.   “It comprises of 15 MPs with one aim to protect the Iraqi borders, particularly the question of the Kuwaiti port”, she added.  Kuwait announced on 6 April last the start in building Mobarak port after one year of Iraqi announcement of initiating the Greater Fao Water Terminal.  Iraqi Ministry of Transport laid down the corner stone of the terminal which is supposed to have a containers pier of 39 kilometers and an open ground of one million square meters, with absorption capacity of 99 million tons per year.  The total cost of the project will reach to 4.4 billion Euros. The terminal will connect Iraqi ports with Europe, via Turkey. RM (TS)/SR 574