Home
UN official in Kuwait Monday to follow up Iraq-Kuwait issues
03/03/2013 | 10:19 AM | Kuwait News
UNITED
NATIONS, March 3 (KUNA) -- UN official Victor Poliakov, who took care
of the missing Kuwaitis and property files in the UN Secretariat since
the eighties, will discuss the issues in Kuwait Monday with government
officials, KUNA learned late Saturday.
Poliakov was appointed by
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon recently to temporarily follow up these
two humanitarian files until the Security Council decides by June on how
to proceed, after the High-Level Coordinator Gennady Tarasov left his
office in late December.
Ban offered the Council in a report last
December a number of options to choose from on how to fill until June
the vacuum created by Tarasov's departure.
The options include
replacing Tarasov with another full-time coordinator, appointing an
interim coordinator, asking someone from the UN to assume the mandate
until the files are closed, or allowing the UN Assistance Mission in
Iraq (UNAMI) to take over the files.
When the council met in
mid-December, it did not agree on any of the options, and therefore did
not allow the mandate to be financed until a final decision is made.
While
Russia wanted Tarasov to be replaced by another Russian, Western
countries wanted the files to be handled by the UN Secretariat until the
files are closed once and for all. Ban had personally wanted UNAMI to
handle the files.
Since the council remained deadlocked on the
way forward, Ban wrote to the council late last month informing its
members that he has mandated Poliakov to "temporarily follow up the
dossiers" until the council decides on how to proceed when it meets
again on the issues next June.
A UN diplomat told KUNA that the
recent improvement in the Kuwait-Iraq relations will definitely have an
impact on the council's decision in June.
He also said that the next few
months will be a test for Iraq to prove to the international community
that it means business and is serious about closing the files once and
for all.
Iraqi Ambassador Hamid Al-Bayati told KUNA that some of
the files, such as the maintenance of border posts and maritime
navigation, will be dealt with bilaterally with Kuwait in the future,
expressing satisfaction that the legal issues between Kuwait Airways and
its Iraqi sister company have now been resolved.
"Both
governments are determined to solve all outstanding issues and to open a
new page in the relations between the two brotherly neighbors - Iraq
and Kuwait," he said.(end) sj.wsa KUNA 031019 Mar 13NNNN
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
03/03/2013 | 10:19 AM | Kuwait News
UNITED
NATIONS, March 3 (KUNA) -- UN official Victor Poliakov, who took care
of the missing Kuwaitis and property files in the UN Secretariat since
the eighties, will discuss the issues in Kuwait Monday with government
officials, KUNA learned late Saturday.
Poliakov was appointed by
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon recently to temporarily follow up these
two humanitarian files until the Security Council decides by June on how
to proceed, after the High-Level Coordinator Gennady Tarasov left his
office in late December.
Ban offered the Council in a report last
December a number of options to choose from on how to fill until June
the vacuum created by Tarasov's departure.
The options include
replacing Tarasov with another full-time coordinator, appointing an
interim coordinator, asking someone from the UN to assume the mandate
until the files are closed, or allowing the UN Assistance Mission in
Iraq (UNAMI) to take over the files.
When the council met in
mid-December, it did not agree on any of the options, and therefore did
not allow the mandate to be financed until a final decision is made.
While
Russia wanted Tarasov to be replaced by another Russian, Western
countries wanted the files to be handled by the UN Secretariat until the
files are closed once and for all. Ban had personally wanted UNAMI to
handle the files.
Since the council remained deadlocked on the
way forward, Ban wrote to the council late last month informing its
members that he has mandated Poliakov to "temporarily follow up the
dossiers" until the council decides on how to proceed when it meets
again on the issues next June.
A UN diplomat told KUNA that the
recent improvement in the Kuwait-Iraq relations will definitely have an
impact on the council's decision in June.
He also said that the next few
months will be a test for Iraq to prove to the international community
that it means business and is serious about closing the files once and
for all.
Iraqi Ambassador Hamid Al-Bayati told KUNA that some of
the files, such as the maintenance of border posts and maritime
navigation, will be dealt with bilaterally with Kuwait in the future,
expressing satisfaction that the legal issues between Kuwait Airways and
its Iraqi sister company have now been resolved.
"Both
governments are determined to solve all outstanding issues and to open a
new page in the relations between the two brotherly neighbors - Iraq
and Kuwait," he said.(end) sj.wsa KUNA 031019 Mar 13NNNN
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
