BAGHDAD: Baghdad's renowned Al-Rasheed hotel reopened on Friday, the only luxury commercial lodging inside the Iraqi capital's Green Zone and a centrepiece of the country's drive to attract foreign investors.

Guests entering the hotel once had to tread over a mosaic of former US president George Bush senior placed on the floor — an insult reportedly ordered by dictator Saddam Hussein after the 1991 Gulf War.

The Rasheed, and Baghdad's five other largest hotels, were closed last year to renovate them for an Arab summit last March, which was first postponed and then called off until next year.

That final postponement came after Baghdad's relations with the UAE and Saudi Arabia chilled over the two Gulf countries sending troops to help put down an uprising in Bahrain, sparking criticism from Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. But during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said that the renovations were not only about the summit.

“The rebuilding of infrastructure, including palaces and airports, is evidence of the ability of Iraqis to achieve what they want — not for the Arab summit, but to revive Baghdad again and to encourage foreign investment,” he said.—AFP