Hakeem, Amir of Kuwait discuss Iraq political developments

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Ammar al-Hakeem, the leader of the Iraqi National Alliance (INA) bloc, met on Sunday with Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah at the al-Sayf Palace in the Kuwaiti capital city and discussed political developments in Iraq as well as bilateral relations. “During the meeting the two sides reviews current developments and future vistas as well as means to further bilateral relations to the interests of both the Kuwaiti and Iraqi peoples,” according to a statement published on Hakeem’s Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) web site as received by IraqiNews.com news agency. Hakeem had started a visit to neighboring Kuwait on Saturday (May 8). His meeting with the Emir of Kuwait was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Kuwait Sheikh Mohammed Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah and Minister of State for Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Ali al-Jarrah al-Sabah. Hakeem is leading the INA that has recently announced a coalition with incumbent Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Dawlat al-Qanoon (State of Law), together making the largest parliamentary bloc so far with 159 out of a total 325 seats, with the objective of forming the next government amidst a political tug-of-war and tensions that followed last March’s legislative elections, the second ever in the war-scourged nation since 2003. AmR (S) 2