Saudi Arabia appoints ambassador to Baghdad after 25 years   

JEDDAH: 15 April 2015

Saudi Arabia has appointed an ambassador to Iraq after nearly a quarter of a century of severed diplomatic relations between the two countries, according to diplomatic sources.

A delegation had been appointed to survey the area and pave the way for opening the Saudi Embassy in Iraq, Asharq Al-Awsat daily reported.

The name of the ambassador has not yet been revealed.

“The ambassador-designate has previously worked as a military attaché at one of the Kingdom’s embassies in an Arab country. He will submit his papers to the Iraqi government shortly before a formal announcement,” sources said.

The sources said that the ambassador, after nearly a quarter of a century of diplomatic standoff following former President Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, will undertake his diplomatic functions with members of the Saudi diplomatic mission, some of whom have been assigned their tasks.

The late King Abdullah and Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman (then crown prince) had sent congratulatory messages to Iraq’s President Fouad Masum, Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi, and Parliament Speaker Salim Al-Jabouri when they had formed a new government in August.

The comprehensive report of the delegation included options available, especially after Iraq provided headquarters for the Saudi Embassy in the diplomatic compound in the Green Zone, a source said.

The source said the Saudi delegation, headed by former Saudi Ambassador to Iran Abdul Rahman Al-Shahri, who is also deputy chairman of the information department at the Foreign Ministry, met with a number of Iraqi officials in Baghdad and Erbil during his survey.

Iraqi Deputy Primier Bahaa Al-Araji had earlier told Asharq Al-Awsat that Saudi Arabia would open its embassy in Iraq within two months, adding that his government “provided the Saudi Foreign Ministry’s delegation with all possible support”.

Al-Araji, who believed that the opening of the Saudi Embassy would end the stand-off between the two countries, said another building has been allotted to house the staff; what remains is the repair and furnishing of the embassy building by Saudi Arabia, which should not take a long time.

The Saudi delegation also met Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani, who wished the Saudi consulate to be successfully opened in Erbil.