Kuwait urges Iraq to act ‘seriously, responsibly’ on maritime dispute

Kuwait called on Iraq on Tuesday to act "seriously and responsibly" in accordance with international law while addressing a maritime dispute between the two neighbors.

In a statement, the Kuwaiti cabinet urged Iraq "to take into account the course of historical relations" between the two countries and "to deal seriously and responsibly in accordance with the rules and principles of international law and what is stipulated in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982 and in accordance with bilateral understandings, agreements and memoranda of understanding."

Last week, Kuwait summoned Iraq's chargé d'affaires to protest Baghdad's filing of maritime coordinates and map with the UN, saying the submission infringes on its territory.

The Iraqi cabinet, meanwhile, reiterated Iraq's sovereign right to its lands and territorial waters.

During a Tuesday meeting headed by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, the cabinet said that it is committed to "maintaining the best relations with all neighboring countries, in a manner that guarantees mutual rights and national sovereignty, within the framework of constructive fraternal relations."

On Sunday, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said that the government's deposit of the map and maritime coordinates with the UN came "in accordance with the international law of the sea."

In August 1990, Iraq, under then-President Saddam Hussein, invaded Kuwait, leading to the 1991 Gulf War, during which a US-led international coalition expelled Iraqi forces after seven months.

Baghdad and Kuwait resumed diplomatic relations in 2003 following the fall of Saddam Hussein's government.

After the invasion, the UN demarcated the land boundary between the two countries. But the demarcation did not settle all aspects of their maritime boundary, leaving certain maritime delimitation issues to be addressed bilaterally between the two oil-producing neighbors.