FINANCIAL NEWS

Iraq agrees to pay USD500m to Kuwait to solve airline issue

15 Mar 2012

(MENAFN) Iraq said it has reached a USD500 million agreement with Kuwait to resolve a standoff over Gulf War-era debts that had prevented Iraqi Airways from flying to destinations in the West, Reuters reported.

Ali al-Moussawi, media adviser for Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki said that Iraq will pay Kuwait USD300 million in cash and will invest another USD200 million in a joint Iraqi-Kuwaiti airline company.

The issue of Iraqi Airways debts is one part of a long-running dispute between Iraq and Kuwait over billions of dollars of compensations dating back to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990/ 91.

In 2010 Kuwait’s lawyers tried to seize an Iraqi Airways plane on its first flight to London more than 20 years.

Iraqi Airways has regular flights to Beirut, Dubai, Tehran and Amman, but legal cases have made it difficult to start flights to European cities without risking its planes being confiscated.

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