The UN Security Council members are in an official visit to the State of Kuwait for the first time to be briefed with the evolving Kuwaiti-Iraqi relations, said a senior diplomat here Friday.

“The meetings will start with Deputy Special Representative for Political Affairs and Electoral Assistance of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq Alice Walpole; of the UK, who will mainly talk about the Kuwaiti and third-party missing persons’ dossier, as well as Kuwaiti properties’ return file and progress made in those regards during her tenure,” Kuwait’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi, told KUNA.

Walpole assumed office in 2018. “We will also be detailed by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Representative in Kuwait on the matter. This comes within the ICRC’s capacity as head of the Tripartite Commission,” Ambassador Al Otaibi noted, adding that recent reports on unearthing some 35 to 37 remains in Iraq and with DNA testing underway, we view this as “promising news.”

On June 20, a joint statement by the ICRC-affiliated Tripartite Commission announced the recovery of human remains in southern Iraq, offering hope for families of missing people from 1990-1991 Gulf War. Kuwait and Iraq are the other Commission members. The remains, believed to be of Kuwaiti citizens including civilians and prisoners of war, were found at two burial sites, as a result of joint efforts between Iraqi and Kuwaiti authorities, and experts from the ICRC, conducted within the framework of the Commission.

The remains were fully exhumed and transferred to Baghdad’s Medico-Legal Directorate for DNA analysis. Later today, a scheduled meeting with Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah is to take place, with bilateral relations between the two brotherly countries, as well as follow up mechanisms of outcomes of the KICRI 2018, to top the meeting’s agenda, Al-Otaibi pointed out.

KICRI (Kuwait International Conference for the Reconstruction of Iraq) took place here in February 2018 to have tangible contributions with the aim to help rebuild post-IS Iraq. It also touched on several developments and vital aspects pertaining to Iraq, including the participation of the private sector in the reconstruction process. It was co-chaired by Kuwait and Iraq, as well as the UN, European Union and the World Bank.

“We hope this visit would give UN Security Council members an idea on how evolved relations between Kuwait and Iraq are,” Al-Otaibi said. On his part, US Ambassador to Kuwait Lawrence Silverman told KUNA that the United States “looks forward to close Kuwaiti-Iraqi relations and hopefully an expanded economic relation between the two countries.

“It would be mutually beneficial. It is as important for Iraq to broaden its economic relations and integration with its Arab neighbors.” He stressed the significance of the UN Security Council members’ visit to Kuwait, branding it “extremely important,” noting that “among all states, Kuwait is actually the one who understands the importance of stability and prosperity in Iraq, which was evident from His Highness the Amir’s recent visit to Baghdad.”

His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah had completed a visit to Baghdad on June 19, after heading an official delegation to enhance bilateral relations in all fields. It was His Highness’s second visit to Baghdad after the first in March 2012 to participate in the Arab Summit. In addition to the permanent members; UK, US, France, Russia and China, this term’s non-permanent members include Belgium, Germany, Poland, Cote d’Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Indonesia, Peru, South Africa and Kuwait, which chairmanship ends by end of June.

Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi

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