Iraq and Kuwait agreed on Wednesday to step up efforts to resolve issues dating from Iraq's 1990 invasion of the emirate, as a Kuwaiti premier visited Baghdad for the first time since before that conflict. Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah was received at Baghdad airport by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and other officials.
The two premiers then met in "a positive atmosphere" and discussed steps to deal with outstanding issues in relations, said Ali Moussawi, a Maliki adviser. "The two sides showed their insistence on developing relations, and getting over problems of borders and economic and security files," he said.
They agreed to form a committee to address outstanding issues, which will be jointly headed by the countries' foreign ministers, Moussawi said. "The committees will meet soon, to find solutions via dialogue," he said. Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah, who accompanied Sheikh Nasser, said at a news conference that "there are several issues the Iraqi-Kuwaiti committee will discuss, including the issue of debts."
He added that Kuwait is interested in investing in Iraqi infrastructure: "We have a real desire to set up bridges between two peoples, and there is a big Kuwaiti desire for investment in Iraqi infrastructure," he said. Sheikh Nasser's visit is the first by a Kuwaiti premier to Iraq since Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah visited in 1989. In August 1990, Iraq's Saddam Hussein ordered his forces to invade Kuwait.
The invasion was quickly met with a concerted international military response that seven months later pushed Saddam's forces out of the emirate. The dictator was ousted by a US-led coalition in 2003. Moussawi said Kuwait also expressed support for an Arab summit set for Baghdad in March, in which the country will be represented by its emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah.
"Kuwait expressed its desire for the summit to succeed, and will participate in it, represented by the emir of the country, and will make efforts to support Iraq in getting out of Chapter Seven," he said. That was a reference to the section of the UN Charter under which sanctions were imposed on Iraq. Sheikh Nasser's visit comes two days after a Kuwaiti coastguard was killed during a clash with Iraqi fishermen in which the Iraqis' boat was sunk.