Kuwait said it will host a conference to raise funds for the reconstruction of war-torn Iraq, on February.
Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Khaled al-Jarallah made the announcement at a joint news conference in Kuwait City with the secretary general of the Iraqi cabinet, Mahdi al-Allaq.
Iraq needs at least $100 billion in assistance to rebuild homes, businesses and infrastructure including oil and telecommunications facilities, Kuwait’s KUNA news agency quoted Allaq as saying.
The Kuwaiti official said that despite “past wounds”, a reference to Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, his country had a “moral, humanitarian and Arab” duty to support its neighbor.
Iraq still pays reparations for Kuwait in compensation for its 1990 invasion. Last November, Iraq offered to earmark 0.5% of its 2018 oil proceeds for the $4.6 billion owed to Kuwait in compensation for destruction of its oil facilities during the 1990-91 Gulf War occupation.
