JEDDAH, July 28: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said on Wednesday that he and Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi had agreed to restore bilateral diplomatic ties, the Al-Arabiya news channel reported.
"We agreed on the resumption of diplomatic representation" severed 13 years ago, the Dubai-based television quoted Prince Saud as saying after talks here with the visiting Iraqi premier.
The statement was reported in a flash without further details. Ties with Riyadh were broken off by then president Saddam Hussein's regime during the 1991 Gulf War when US-led multinational forces used Saudi Arabia as a springboard to free neighbouring Kuwait from Iraqi occupation.
Earlier, Iraqi officials met their Saudi counterparts to discuss boosting economic cooperation between their two countries. Iraqi Planning Minister Mehdi al-Hafez met his Saudi counterpart Khaled al-Gosaibi to study "ways to support cooperation and improve economic relations," the official SPA news agency reported.
An Iraqi delegation headed by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi arrived on Tuesday in Jeddah on the latest leg of a regional tour aimed at normalizing ties with fellow Arab states and easing Baghdad's foreign debt burden.
Mr Allawi met Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal and discussed "bilateral relations and issues of common interest," SPA said. The Iraqi premier was later received by the head of the Saudi federation of chambers of commerce, Abderrahman Al-Jarissi, during which the two studied "encouraging Saudi businessmen to invest in Iraq".
Iraqi Oil Minister Thamer Ghadban also met the head of the Saudi commission for geological activities, Mohammed Tawfiq, for talks on "oil cooperation" between the two OPEC members, according to the news agency.
Iraqi central bank governor Sinan al-Shabibi also held talks with his Saudi counterpart Hamad al-Sayari. Riyadh said in January it would negotiate a "substantial" cut in Iraq's estimated 28-billion-dollar debt to the oil-rich kingdom.
According to a source in the Iraqi delegation, the issue of Iraq's debts has not so far been raised in meetings with Saudi officials. "General issues that were predominantly political were discussed during the meetings without going into details," said the source.
"We want to discuss the issue of debt but it is a matter that cannot be discussed during a two-day visit. We aim to write off all our debt, but it's a technical matter as much as it is political and it needs time." -AFP
