Parliament’s speaker, Kuwaiti amb. discuss compensations, captives files

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Speaker of the Iraqi parliament, Iyad al-Samarraie, on Tuesday discussed at his office in Baghdad with the Kuwaiti Ambassador, Ali Mohamed al-Muaamen, and his accompanying delegation the compensations and captives files. “The meeting also tackled the latest political developments in Iraq as well as bilateral relations,” according to a statement released from al-Samarraie’s office and received by IraqiNews.com news agency. “Al-Samarraie asserted his keenness to listen the Kuwaiti viewpoint regarding pending issues between the two countries, mainly the compensations, borders and captives files,” it said. He called for the formation of a joint parliamentary committee to supervise the joint governmental committees to foster relations and end the pending issues. “The ambassador complained of what he described as the weakness of the Iraqi side’s response towards the pending issues,” it noted. The stickiest issue is the alleged Kuw aiti debt of over $12.5 billion left as a heavy burden on Iraq ‘s shoulders by the former regime. It is worthy to note here that the U . N . cut 5 per cent of the Iraqi annual oil revenues to go to the Kuwaiti Compensation Fund. SH (P)/SR 1