Iraq signs 6 cooperation agreements with Kuwait, hoping to lift UN sanctions

Iraq signed six agreements of cooperation with Kuwait on Wednesday and hoped that the United Nations would lift sanctions imposed on Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The latest sign of improvement of ties between the two countries came during the visit of Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah on Wednesday who met with Iraqi leaders, including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. The two countries signed six cooperation agreements in the fields of diplomatic and cultural cooperation, ecology, higher education and scientific research, air transportation and economy. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and his Kuwaiti counterpart confirmed during a joint press conference that delegates of the two countries will meet with the UN Secretary General on Wednesday, hoping to help end the UN sanctions (known as "Chapter Seven") imposed on Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Zebari added that the two sides accomplished most of the pending issues, including the demarcation of border. The Iraqi official said his country only owe Kuwait 11 billion U.S. dollars in reparations for damage caused by Iraq's 1990 invasion of the Gulf state, noting that if Iraq keeps paying 5 percent of its annual oil revenue to Kuwait the reparations will be finalized in 2015. As for the Syrian crisis, Zebari said "We demanded a peaceful solution and a political process that could democratically transfer the power and to respect the will of the Syrian people." Earlier in the day, the Kuwaiti prime minister and his delegation were officially received at Baghdad airport by Maliki.