“We discussed the case of drawing the maritime borders, and there was a very extensive discussion where both sides expressed their opinions,” Hussein said during a joint press conference following the meeting, adding that they decided to continue the talks through various technical committees.
Hussein said that Iraq will establish a high committee to conduct talks with Kuwait.
“Both sides emphasized on ending all the border issues,” Hussein added.
For years Iraq and Kuwait have had issues over the maritime borders in the north of the Persian Gulf at the Khor Abdullah border point, which is a waterway that separates Iraq from Kuwait and is the gate for most of Iraq’s oil exports.
“There was a complete agreement on the importance of solving all the pending issues between both countries, drawing the maritime borders being the top issue,” Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Kuwait’s foreign minister said.
The Khor Abdullah waterway has been a source of conflict between Iraq and Kuwait for many years, including during the time of former president Saddam Hussein.
In January 2013, Iraq and Kuwait reached an agreement to jointly navigate and govern the waterway, the agreement calls for a joint commission to provide security to Khor Abdullah, as well as to maintain and organize movement there.
In September 2019, the Iraqi foreign minister complained to the United Nations, claiming that Kuwait was violating its maritime borders.
Some Kuwaiti parliamentarians were dismissive of the Iraqi foreign ministry’s move at the time, and labeled it as “provocative”.
Iraq’s relations with Kuwait were harmed during Hussein’s regime. The dictator referred to Kuwait as the 19th province of Iraq and invaded the energy-rich nation on the Persian Gulf in 1990 following Iraq’s war with Iran, in what is known as the Gulf War.
In 1991, the US-led coalition chased the Iraqis out of Kuwait, and Hussein’s forces set the Kuwaiti oil fields on fire on their way out.
The relations between both countries improved following the fall of the former regime in 2003. On Sunday, Sabah labeled the relations between the two countries as not only political but “familial”.
Ties between both countries further improved after the UN Security Council voted in February last year to end Iraq’s requirement to compensate the victims of the 1990 invasion after Iraq paid the final reparation installment in December 2021.
The UN Compensation Commission (UNCC), set up in 1991 as a result of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, announced earlier in February that Baghdad had completed its payment of war reparations worth $52.4 billion to Kuwait.
