ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Saudi Arabia plans to reopen its Arar border crossing with Iraq for the first time since 1990, when the border was closed following the invasion of Kuwait by the Saddam Hussein regime, as reported by local Saudi media.
"The crossing that will open soon will be dedicated to the transportation of goods,” Abdul Aziz al-Shammari, the Kingdom’s Charge d’affaires, told Saudi’s Mecca newspaper on Tuesday after a visit to Baghdad.
The announcement came after a meeting on Monday by Saudi cabinet members who want to establish a joint trade commission with Iraq.
"This is a great start for further future cooperation between Iraq and Saudi Arabia," said Sohaib al-Rawi, governor of Iraq’s southwestern Anbar province where the Arar border crossing is located.
Saudi and Iraqi officials toured the site together on Monday as well as spoke with Iraqi religious pilgrims. The border crossing has only been opened once per year during the Hajj pilgrimage season when worshipers travel to Mecca.
Rawi’s staff was on hand for the re-opening ceremonies and said that Iraqi troops had been deployed to protect the desert route which leads to the Arar crossing and called its opening, “a significant move” to boost ties between the two countries.
Brett McGurk, special US presidential envoy to the anti-ISIS coalition, visited the border crossing on Wednesday, describing it on Twitter as “bustling” with 1,200 pilgrims crossing the border daily.
Saudi Arabia suspended diplomatic ties with Iraq in 1990 following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Twenty-five years later the Saudi Embassy reopened in Baghdad at the end of 2015.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir visited Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in Baghdad in February, the first such high-ranking Saudi diplomat to visit Iraq in 27 years. Jubeir said the Kingdom planned to appoint a new ambassador and resume direct flights between the two countries.
Abadi met with Saudi King Salman in Riyadh on June 19, where they discussed “ways to enhance co-operation and develop the relations between Iraq and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
Saudi Arabia is reportedly considering opening a consulate in the city of Najaf as well.
"The crossing that will open soon will be dedicated to the transportation of goods,” Abdul Aziz al-Shammari, the Kingdom’s Charge d’affaires, told Saudi’s Mecca newspaper on Tuesday after a visit to Baghdad.
The announcement came after a meeting on Monday by Saudi cabinet members who want to establish a joint trade commission with Iraq.
"This is a great start for further future cooperation between Iraq and Saudi Arabia," said Sohaib al-Rawi, governor of Iraq’s southwestern Anbar province where the Arar border crossing is located.
Saudi and Iraqi officials toured the site together on Monday as well as spoke with Iraqi religious pilgrims. The border crossing has only been opened once per year during the Hajj pilgrimage season when worshipers travel to Mecca.
Rawi’s staff was on hand for the re-opening ceremonies and said that Iraqi troops had been deployed to protect the desert route which leads to the Arar crossing and called its opening, “a significant move” to boost ties between the two countries.
Brett McGurk, special US presidential envoy to the anti-ISIS coalition, visited the border crossing on Wednesday, describing it on Twitter as “bustling” with 1,200 pilgrims crossing the border daily.
Saudi Arabia suspended diplomatic ties with Iraq in 1990 following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Twenty-five years later the Saudi Embassy reopened in Baghdad at the end of 2015.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir visited Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in Baghdad in February, the first such high-ranking Saudi diplomat to visit Iraq in 27 years. Jubeir said the Kingdom planned to appoint a new ambassador and resume direct flights between the two countries.
Abadi met with Saudi King Salman in Riyadh on June 19, where they discussed “ways to enhance co-operation and develop the relations between Iraq and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
Saudi Arabia is reportedly considering opening a consulate in the city of Najaf as well.
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