Riyadh waits to reopen its embassy in Baghdad

Saudi remains committed to sending an ambassador but will not give timetable for implementation until details are resolved

King Abdullah II meets the Iraqi PM Nouri al Malki. The Jordanian head of state became the first Arab leader to visit Baghdad since 2003.

RIYADH// Saudi Arabia made a "political decision" to reopen its embassy in Baghdad many months ago, but needs to resolve "technical, administrative and security" issues before it can re-establish the mission and assign an ambassador, a foreign ministry spokesman said. "Having no embassy [in Iraq] doesn't mean that we don't have contact with our Iraqi brothers," said Osama A Nugali, noting that there is a functioning Iraqi embassy in Riyadh.

Mr Nugali said he could not offer a time frame for when the Saudi embassy would reopen. Ali Al Dabbagh, an Iraqi government spokesman, told reporters yesterday in Baghdad that several Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, are preparing to reopen their embassies. The United States has been urging the mostly Sunni Muslim Arab states to normalise relations with Iraq's Shiite-majority government of Nouri al Maliki to promote Iraqi stability.

A breakthrough came last week when Jordan's King Abdullah II visited Baghdad, becoming the first Arab head of state to do so since US-led forces deposed former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Jordan recently named an ambassador to Baghdad, but has not announced a date for his arrival. In Aug 2003, a lorry bomb killed 17 people outside Jordan's embassy in Baghdad. Mr Nugali said that a Saudi delegation visited Baghdad several months ago to signal Riyadh's readiness to reopen its embassy.

The current discussions cover security as well as the location of the Saudi mission and ambassadorial residence. He noted that an Iraqi delegation recently visited Saudi Arabia to go over preparations for Iraqi citizens planning to make this year's haj. The reopening of the Saudi embassy is unconnected, Mr Nugali said, to the matter of Iraq's outstanding debt to the kingdom. "That's something totally different," he said.

Three years ago, Saudi Arabia offered to consider substantially reducing Iraq's estimated $30 billion (Dh110.1bn) debt burden, possibly up to 80 per cent, but that offer has yet to be formalised. Early last month, the UAE became the first Gulf state to cancel Iraq's entire debt, which was $7bn. It also appointed Abdullah Ibrahim al Shehhi, its envoy to India, as ambassador to Iraq. Kuwait, which is still nursing its wounds over Iraq's 1990 invasion, has been reluctant to discuss forgiving any of Iraq's $15bn debt. But last month, it named Ali al Mumin ambassador to Iraq, and in April it hosted a regional meeting on ways to promote Iraqi stability.

Egypt's ambassador to Baghdad was kidnapped and killed shortly after he arrived in 2005. He has not been replaced. @Email:[e-mail]