BAGHDAD: Iraq will approve the nomination of a non-resident Saudi ambassador, the Iraqi foreign minister said Tuesday, terming it a positive sign for the normalisation of ties between the two countries.
Saudi Arabia has not had an ambassador to Iraq since 1990, the year now-executed dictator Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.
"We will accept and we certainly welcome" the presentation of "the Saudi ambassador in Amman's credentials as non-resident ambassador" to Iraq, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told AFP.
It is "a very positive sign ... for the normalisation of relations" between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, he said.
"Iraq's response accepting this request will be quick," Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's spokesman Ali Mussawi told AFP.
"The Iraqi government welcomes this step, and we consider it a first step, and we are waiting for more steps," such as "the appointment of a resident ambassador in the country," he said.
A Saudi official told AFP on Monday that the kingdom had nominated its ambassador in Jordan as the non-resident ambassador in Iraq.
"We presented today the nomination of the ambassador of the Kingdom for Jordan as the non-resident ambassador in Iraq," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The request was presented to the Iraqi embassy in Riyadh, the official said.
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