NEW YORK: Kuwait’s Permanent Representative to the UN headquarters in New York, Ambassador Tareq Al-Banai, called for speeding up the process of finding and identifying the remains of Kuwaiti POWs, missing persons, and properties through tangible action rather than procrastination. The Kuwaiti diplomat made the call during a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) session on the situation in Iraq late Friday.

He added that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ 41st report on the file of Kuwaiti POWs had shown a painful human story that dates back to the 1990s and concerns POWs’ families, pointing out continued efforts to find the remains of 308 missing persons. In this context, he underlined the significance of the UN following up on the field activity of concerned parties, in addition to transparency in manifesting the image in its genuine reality through the UN chief’s periodical reports.

“It is no secret that everyone, particularly the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), the International Committee of the Red Cross, and member states of the tripartite and sub-technical committees—Saudi Arabia, the US, UK, France, Iraq, and Kuwait—are aware of slowness on the

ground regarding the file,” he said. “Any procrastination or reluctance would unquestionably hamper this file,” he said, citing the recent committee meetings’ minutes as unequivocal proof of sluggishness and recalcitrance.

Regarding the end of the UNAMI mission late this year, the Kuwaiti diplomat said his country is only interested in finding a UN mechanism that could push this track forward in an effective manner in a bid to find the remains of missing persons and regain all Kuwaiti properties, including the national archive. He urged the UN to appoint a high-level coordinator for the dossier, noting that this UN mechanism had enabled high-level coordinators to contribute to identifying the remains of 234 missing persons and overseeing the regaining of multiple properties that were seized during the occupation.

On Kuwaiti-Iraqi relations, the Kuwaiti Permanent Representative to the UN headquarters said the existing decline in the bilateral relationship is not restricted to following up on the dossier of POWs and missing Kuwaitis, but it involves several other outstanding issues as well. Al-Banai added that last year Iraq had taken decisions that culminated in this decline, and bilateral agreements, which were in effect for years, were consequently rescinded and even undermined bilateral progress made over the past years.

He cited such decisions as abolishing the 2008 security exchange protocol, failing to comply with Kuwait’s demands for joint technical teams’ meetings on the 2012 agreement regulating maritime navigation in Khor Abdullah, and suspending joint legal teams’ maritime boundary delimitation meetings. In this context, he restated his country’s abidance by such agreements only out of its commitment to putting the bilateral relationship back on the due track.

Al-Banai also reiterated his country’s keenness on the security and safety of waterways in this vital area that hosts several significantly strategic projects. He called on the Iraqi side to rectify the legal status of the 2012 agreement regulating maritime navigation in Khor Abdullah and resume joint legal teams’ maritime boundary delimitation meetings. - KUNA