Saudi Arabia gives $1bln for Iraq reconstruction

KUWAIT: Upon the directives of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir announced the Kingdom's allocation of $1 billion for Iraq reconstruction projects in addition to $500 million for financing Saudi exports to Iraq.

Jubeir was participation in the Kuwait International Conference for the Reconstruction of Iraq under the patronage of Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

"We are required to exert efforts to support financing of projects for Iraq’s reconstruction," Jubeir said.

"I would like to refer to the efforts culminating in the reopening of the new Arar crossing and resuming Saudi Arabian Airlines’ flights to Baghdad and Erbil, serving passengers and commercial traffic between the two countries," Jubeir said.

"Establishment of the Saudi-Iraqi Coordinating Council is part of the two leaderships' efforts to consolidate bilateral relations to the desired level, in addition to opening new horizons of cooperation in the political, security, economic, development, trade, investment, tourism and cultural fields," he said.

He affirmed that cooperation in the fields of energy, industry and mining is one of the most important areas of cooperation between the two countries.

Kuwait Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah said on Wednesday that the countries participating in Kuwait International Conference on Reconstruction of Iraq (KICRI) have pledged $30 billion.

Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled said, in his speech at the closing session of the ministerial meeting, that this amount came as result of the participation of 76 countries, along with 51 international development funds, 107 local and international NGOs, in addition to 1,850 representatives from the private sector.