* UAE to Cancel $5.8bn in Iraqi Debt

January 18th, 2012 01:19 pm · Posted in NEWS: Dinar Currency & World Currency News 

Al Arabiya reports that the United Arab Emirates will scrap $5.8 billion in debts owed by Iraq.

Emirati foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan, said on Monday at a news conference hosted jointly with Iraqi foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari (pictured):

“An agreement will be signed soon to lay out the legal framework for waiving old Iraqi debt of $5.8 billion.”

Zebari thanked the UAE for cancelling the debts, which he said was “a very heavy burden” on Iraq.

“The relations between the two states did not stop [in the past 10 years], but today we started the official framework of co-operation,” Zebari said.

The debt date backs to the 1980s when Iraq had borrowed money from Gulf states for assistance with Iraq’s long-running war with Iran.

The move follows a similar one in 2008, when the UAE wrote off almost $7 billion worth of Iraqi debt left over from the era of Saddam Hussein.

Trade between Iraq and the UAE exceeded $4.5 billion last year.

LINK


Comments

Comments are closed.

Archives: Latest Posts

May 25

http://www.theiraqidinar.com/2012/01/18/uae-to-cancel-5-8bn-in-iraqi-debt/