Bumped ~ July 16, 2011
Kuwait FM says Iraq''s compliance with int'l commitments to cement bilateral ties
United Nations ~ Kuwait's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah believed that Iraq's abidance by international commitments towards Kuwait would surely lead to more confidence and better relations between Kuwait and Iraq.
In two identical letters sent to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and President of the UN Security Council Peter Wittig late on Friday, Sheikh Mohammad voiced his country's willingness to bolster good-neighborly relations with Iraq and to help Iraq meet its commitments expeditiously.
"We'd like to reaffirm our serious willingness to improve bilateral relations at the level that could serve the interests of both countries and peoples, and boost good-neighborly relations," he said.
"We are confident that Iraq's implementation of remaining international obligations under the UN umbrella and its observation and implementation of Resolution 833/1993 on the ground will represent a significant gateway to building confidence between the two nations, and a jumping-off to wider horizons for firm ties based on respect of international legitimacy, international law and the principle of non-interference in each other's internal affairs," he said.
However, the Kuwaiti foreign minister spoke highly of the Iraqi government's constructive cooperation for resolving the questions of Kuwaiti POWs, properties and national archives within the framework of a three-party committee and its technical panel.
Thanks to this cooperation, the bodies of 236 out of 605 Kuwaitis have been recovered, he said. But, unfortunately, since 2004, no more bodies have been found, he regretted.
He also voiced Kuwait's welcome of a recent UN Security Council resolution to extend the mandate of the UN High-Level Coordinator Gennady Tarasov to follow up on the files of missing Kuwaitis, properties and national archives.
On the Iraq-Kuwait Boundary Maintenance Project (IKBMP), Sheikh Mohammad said the UN has made relevant preparations and arrangements, but actual implementation has not yet been launched on the ground due to Iraq's failure to observe the recommendations of a technical team that visited the border area in February 2006 and asked Iraq to remove border transgressions, as well as Iraq's non-response to UN calls for contributing its share of the additional funding - USD 600,000 - required to complete the project.
He hoped that the UN would hold a meeting of Kuwaiti and Iraqi technicians to follow up on the border maintenance project, recalling to memory that two earlier meetings were held for the purpose; one in New York in June 2007 and another in Kuwait in October 2008.
On compensations, he regretted that Iraq has failed to comply with repeated calls for holding another round of talks after the first one that was held in Amman in 2009on the future of remaining compensations.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2180470&Language=en
In two identical letters sent to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and President of the UN Security Council Peter Wittig late on Friday, Sheikh Mohammad voiced his country's willingness to bolster good-neighborly relations with Iraq and to help Iraq meet its commitments expeditiously.
"We'd like to reaffirm our serious willingness to improve bilateral relations at the level that could serve the interests of both countries and peoples, and boost good-neighborly relations," he said.
"We are confident that Iraq's implementation of remaining international obligations under the UN umbrella and its observation and implementation of Resolution 833/1993 on the ground will represent a significant gateway to building confidence between the two nations, and a jumping-off to wider horizons for firm ties based on respect of international legitimacy, international law and the principle of non-interference in each other's internal affairs," he said.
However, the Kuwaiti foreign minister spoke highly of the Iraqi government's constructive cooperation for resolving the questions of Kuwaiti POWs, properties and national archives within the framework of a three-party committee and its technical panel.
Thanks to this cooperation, the bodies of 236 out of 605 Kuwaitis have been recovered, he said. But, unfortunately, since 2004, no more bodies have been found, he regretted.
He also voiced Kuwait's welcome of a recent UN Security Council resolution to extend the mandate of the UN High-Level Coordinator Gennady Tarasov to follow up on the files of missing Kuwaitis, properties and national archives.
On the Iraq-Kuwait Boundary Maintenance Project (IKBMP), Sheikh Mohammad said the UN has made relevant preparations and arrangements, but actual implementation has not yet been launched on the ground due to Iraq's failure to observe the recommendations of a technical team that visited the border area in February 2006 and asked Iraq to remove border transgressions, as well as Iraq's non-response to UN calls for contributing its share of the additional funding - USD 600,000 - required to complete the project.
He hoped that the UN would hold a meeting of Kuwaiti and Iraqi technicians to follow up on the border maintenance project, recalling to memory that two earlier meetings were held for the purpose; one in New York in June 2007 and another in Kuwait in October 2008.
On compensations, he regretted that Iraq has failed to comply with repeated calls for holding another round of talks after the first one that was held in Amman in 2009on the future of remaining compensations.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2180470&Language=en
