Kuwait, Iraq deposit with UN copy of MOU on Umm-Qasr project

Kuwait, Iraq deposit with UN copy of MOU on Umm-Qasr project

8.1.13

UNITED NATIONS, July 31 (KUNA) — Kuwait and Iraq deposited with the UN a copy of the Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) they concluded late last May concerning the financing of a project to build a housing complex in Umm Qasr, and requested that it be issued as a Security Council document, it was announced in a letter issued on Wednesday.

The MOU, signed by Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al Hamad Al Sabah and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, and issued on Wednesday as a Security Council document, said it was meant to “strengthen the close historical ties” between the two countries and to affirm Kuwait’s belief in the need to support ongoing efforts to rebuild Iraq.

In implementation of that belief, Kuwait approved the allocation of 80 million dollars to finance a project to build a housing complex to replace the houses in the area of Umm Qasr that are adjacent to the boundary line between the two countries, in preparation for the removal of those houses, to facilitate the maintenance of the boundary markers.

The Iraqi Government has agreed that the project in Umm Qasr will be financially managed and monitored by the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development.

The text of the MOU was annexed to a joint letter by Kuwaiti Charge d’Affaires Abdulaziz M A Al-Jarallah and Iraqi Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim.

They said both Governments “have the honour to deposit a copy of the MOU,” concluded on May 28, 2013 concerning the financing of the project, and “we should be grateful if the present letter and its annex could be circulated as a document of the Security Council.” Their letter said that both countries decided to deposit the text of the MOU with the UN “desirous” of developing bilateral relations for the benefit of their two kindred countries, and “mindful” of the purposes of the UN Charter, the principles of international law and, in particular, the principles of mutual respect for independence and equal sovereignty, territorial integrity, the promotion of friendly relations and non-interference in internal affairs.

kuna.net