Iraqi Parliament Speaker hails Kuwait’s ‘great’ initiatives

BAGHDAD: Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament Salim Al-Jubouri has praised the ‘great’ positions adopted by the State of Kuwait starting with His Highness the Amir, government and the Kuwaiti people, noting the special relationship between the two countries.

Al-Jubouri said in a speech on Sunday night during a meeting with a Kuwaiti media delegation that Kuwait’s public policy is well known for containment besides its initiatives to assist in overcoming problems that arise in the region including formal, popular and sports initiatives that contributed to healing the rift among states.

He added that the State of Kuwait continued its support for Iraq through the development of relations and building of joint communication with state institutions and various sectors of society not through the three branches only but also through the fourth power thanks to the various visits of Kuwaiti media delegations to Iraq. He expressed his hope to strengthen the attendance in the rare conference (Conference to rebuild Iraq) so that the Iraqi people can sense its outcome, stressing his keenness to develop relations between the two countries and overcome all the difficulties that may hinder it.

He pointed to the challenges that have been overcome by Iraq, which were culminated in victory over IS, stressing that this victory must be culminated in security and stability and renounce violence, terrorism and sectarianism.

He stressed the need to maintain security and intellectual stability through the closure of the ports, from which terrorism and extremism are being fed in cooperation with educational institutions, pointing to the importance of achieving political, economic and social reform. He said that in the past Iraq was suffering from sectarian divisions that threatened the unity and cohesion of the country and was overcome when everyone turned to logic, law and the Constitution.

He added that the current reality differed from what was in the past, thanks to the declared calls for the need to renounce sectarianism and support co-existence, stressing the need for cooperation, unity and a unified position. He said that after the announcement of the Federal Court not to postpone the upcoming legislative elections, the House of Representatives will adopt a resolution endorsing a fixed date and come up with some controls, security and technical conditions to reassure those who doubt that elections are fair.

Continuous communication

Meanwhile, Iraqi Interior Minister Qasim Al-Araji said that the Iraqi government is determined to upgrade its relations with Kuwait from ‘very good to excellent,’ adding that Kuwait is “a neighboring country and we respect all international agreements and resolutions.” Araji said during his meeting with the Kuwaiti media delegation that is visiting the Iraqi capital Baghdad, that there is continuous communication with the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry and with the Kuwaiti Interior Minister, stressing commitment of Iraqi prime minister to create conditions to encourage Kuwaiti investments in Iraq. He expressed great optimism about the future of relations between the two countries, stressing that there is nothing that could disturb the relationship between the two nations.

He expressed hope that the government relations between the two countries would resemble those social ties, expressing readiness to bolster them at all levels. He said that the elimination of the so-called Islamic State (IS) through military means alone was not enough, as it must be eliminated intellectually and through intelligence cooperation, stressing that once the situation stabilizes in Syria, conditions will settle in Iraq with the need to take into account the future of the Syrian people in the determination of their fate.

He pointed out that there has been a great deal of work against local and international terrorist organizations, stressing the need for regional and intelligence cooperation to eliminate these organizations and the need to form a regional security system, community reconciliation at home and the return of displaced persons to their areas. He pointed out that there is a single security coordination with the neighboring countries which did not reach a “system” status, stressing that “by overcoming the differences in the region, arranging the internal situation and the activation of intelligence, no terrorist organization would be able to harm Iraq.”

$100 billion

The Kuwaiti delegation also met with Iraqi Planning Minister Salman Al-Jumaili, who announced that Iraq has set up an integrated plan for the reconstruction of the country to be presented to the Kuwait International Conference for Rebuilding Iraq slated in Kuwait mid-February.

Jumaili said that the plan is based on extensive studies on the scale of damage done to infrastructure, estimated at $100 billion, including about $47 billion in infrastructure and government facilities. He explained that the reconstruction plan will extend over a period of 10 years to be funded from multiple outlets, the most important of which is by the Federal Government of Iraq within the investment budgets in the country, besides grants and financial investments from the Kuwait International Conference on rebuilding Iraq. “We rely heavily on international support at the Kuwait conference, whether from international organizations or direct support from countries, in addition to loans or grants or through the entry of foreign, Arab and Gulf investments,” he added. He pointed out that the Iraqi government will present within this plan 130 projects to investors in Kuwait, including 10 projects that are very important for the Iraqi economy, including Baiji oil refinery in Salahuddin province, in addition to phosphate and sulfur factories in the west of the country.

He stressed that the plan will not only involve the reconstruction of infrastructure but will include programs for economic and human development, community reconciliation, spreading moderation and rejecting extremism.

He pointed out that the reconstruction will target the areas and provinces of Iraq that have been directly and indirectly affected by terrorist operations. He urged investors not to hesitate to enter the Iraqi market at the present time because the opportunity will not always be available, in his opinion, citing Turkey, which highly contributed with many of its companies in the Iraqi investments in most provinces without intermediaries.

He explained that the Iraqi government facilitated many of its procedures to grant investment licenses, especially to large Arab companies, stressing that the Higher Committee for Investment in Iraq, headed by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi, granted in its first meeting about three months ago investment opportunities for well-known UAE companies without entering the competition in its desire to attract well-known companies to work in Iraq.

Also, Iraqi Minister of Industry Mohammad Sudani announced a plan to sell factories destroyed during the war against IS on investors, during the conference. The Ministry of Industry prepared a file including all factories that were damaged or destroyed, and plans to distribute copies of this file to investors during the February 12-14 conference, Sudani said. He said factories would be offered for all investors, but Kuwaiti investors would have a priority. Iraq, added Sudani, was genuinely interested in facilitating business procedures for Kuwaiti investors.