United Arab Emirates Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan said on Monday after a meeting with his Iraqi counterpart and others at the World Future Energy Summit 2012 in Abu Dhabi that the United Arab Emirates will dismiss $5.8 billion in debts owed by Iraq. During the same meeting his brother, General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, discussed with the Chinese Prime Minister strategic cooperations to restore and safeguard international peace, security and stability. This can be interpreted in a variety of different ways, but there is no disputing that there is a clear alliance being forged between China and Iraq.
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan said on Monday after talks with his Iraqi counterpart. “An agreement will be signed soon to lay out the legal framework for waiving old Iraqi debt of $5.8 billion.”
Iraqi foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari thanked the UAE for cancelling the debts, which he said was “a very heavy burden” on Iraq. “The relations between the two states have not stopped over the past ten years, but today we have started the official framework of co-operation,” Zebari said.
The debt goes as far back as the 1980s when Iraq borrowed money from Gulf states for assistance with Iraq’s long-running war with Iran. The move follows a similar one in 2008, when the UAE wrote off almost $7 billion worth of Iraqi debt left over from the era of Saddam Hussein. Trade between Iraq and the UAE reached more than $4.5 billion last year, the foreign ministers said. Zebari, meanwhile, called cooperation between Iraq and the Gulf Cooperation Council members in security and military areas “good,” adding that it was Iraq’s destiny to be with its sister countries in the Gulf.
The debt goes as far back as the 1980s when Iraq borrowed money from Gulf states for assistance with Iraq’s long-running war with Iran. The move follows a similar one in 2008, when the UAE wrote off almost $7 billion worth of Iraqi debt left over from the era of Saddam Hussein. Trade between Iraq and the UAE reached more than $4.5 billion last year, the foreign ministers said. Zebari, meanwhile, called cooperation between Iraq and the Gulf Cooperation Council members in security and military areas “good,” adding that it was Iraq’s destiny to be with its sister countries in the Gulf.
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