UAE minister in landmark Iraq visit

LANDMARK VISIT: United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahayan (pictured) has arrived in Iraq. (Getty Images)

The United Arab Emirates is to appoint an ambassador to Baghdad in the next few days, the Iraqi government said on Thursday, welcoming the move as an important step by Arab countries to re-engage with Iraq.

No ambassador from any Arab country has been stationed permanently in Baghdad since Egypt's envoy was kidnapped and killed shortly after arriving in 2005.

The United States has been pressing Arab governments to support Iraq by forgiving debts and establishing high-level diplomatic representation in Baghdad.

Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, in a statement, welcomed the UAE's "efforts to enhance diplomatic Arab representation in Iraq".

The UAE has not yet made an official announcement itself.

UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahayan arrived in Iraq on Thursday for the first visit by a Gulf Arab foreign minister since the US invasion in 2003.

The UAE withdrew its top envoy from Iraq in May 2006 after one of its diplomats was kidnapped and held for nearly two weeks by Islamist militants. It has maintained only low-level representation in Iraq since.

Iraq urged its creditors to cancel about $60 billion in debts at an international conference last month in Sweden, but two of its biggest creditors, Gulf Arab states Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, sent only junior representatives to the gathering.

Maliki plans to visit the UAE and Iraq's debt to the country will be discussed, said government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh.

Only Syria and Jordan have sent foreign ministers to Iraq since the 2003 war which toppled Saddam Hussein.

By comparison, Iraq has growing ties with neighbouring non-Arab Iran, which also has a Shi'ite majority.

Maliki is due to visit Iran this week, possibly on Saturday.

Analysts say the Iraqi government's reliance on U.S. and other foreign troops and its close ties with Iran may also lie behind the reluctance by Arab states, which are all Sunni Arab- led, to normalise ties. (Reuters)

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