SECURITY COUNCIL PRESS STATEMENT ON IRAQ-Kuwait

 

The following Security Council press statement on Iraq-Kuwait was read out today by Council President Claude Heller ( Mexico):

The members of the Security Council were briefed by Ambassador Gennady Tarasov, the Secretary-General’s High-Level Coordinator for the issue of missing Kuwaiti and third-country nationals and the repatriation of Kuwaiti property, following the recent report of the Secretary-General.

The members of the Security Council appreciated the efforts of Ambassador Tarasov and the capacity-building project developed by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

The members of the Council noted that limited progress had been made on the identification of human remains.  The members of the Security Council again expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of those involved.

The members of the Council also took note that there was no progress on clarifying the fate of the Kuwaiti national archives.  Nevertheless, the members of the Council welcomed the return by the Iraqi Government of audio and video tape recordings to the Kuwaiti Ministry of Information and that positive efforts are under way to resolve remaining issues related to the Kuwaiti Airways spare parts.

The members of the Security Council noted the positive intention of both Iraq and Kuwait to resolve these matters and agreed to finance the continuation of the activities of the High-Level Coordinator for a period of six months, and with a possibility of a further extension of the financing of the High-Level Coordinator’s mandate.

Supporting the proposal of the Secretary-General for a confidence- and cooperation-building period, the members of the Security Council joined the Secretary-General in stressing the need for all parties to translate political statements of goodwill into concrete actions to speed up progress during the coming months to resolve outstanding issues, which would further strengthen existing friendly relations between Iraq and Kuwait.

Finally, the members of the Security Council expressed a willingness to consider this matter in the context of the review of Security Council resolutions pertaining to Iraq, as called for in resolution 1859 (2008).

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For information media • not an official record