As relations thaw, Saudi Arabia and Iraq pledge cooperation against IS

RIYADH (Reuters): Saudi Arabia and Iraq convened a new joint body to coordinate their fight against Islamic State and on rebuilding Iraqi territory wrested from the group, the Saudi King Salman and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in Riyadh on Sunday.

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud gestures as he speaks with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia October 22, 2017 -  REUTERS 

The rare senior meeting, signalling a thaw between states that have been at loggerheads for decades, was also attended by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who praised the accord between the two close U.S. allies.

“The joint coordination council will not only lead to closer cooperation in the fight against Daesh, but will also help support the rehabilitation of facilities and infrastructure in the areas liberated,” Tillerson told reporters.

“The council will also contribute to reforms that will grow and diversify Iraq’s private sector. Such reforms will encourage the foreign investment that is vital to Iraq’s reconstruction efforts. This will be critical to winning the peace that has been earned through the hard-fought military gains.”

Iraqi forces armed largely by the United States ejected the ultra-hardline Sunni Muslim militant group from Mosul and other cities in northern Iraq this year, but the fighting left whole neighbourhoods in ruins and has hit Iraq’s economy.

The U.S. is concerned that Iran, a Shi’ite regional rival also allied to Iraq, will take advantage of gains against IS in Iraq and neighbouring Syria to expand its influence, which is opposed by Gulf Arab states.

Tillerson’s six-day trip will also take him to Qatar, Pakistan, India and Switzerland.

Saudi oil minister makes high profile Iraq visit, calls for economic cooperation

BAGHDAD (Reuters):Saudi Oil Minister Khalid al-Falih made a high profile visit to Iraq on Saturday, calling for increased economic cooperation and praising existing coordination to boost crude oil prices.

In a speech at the opening of the Baghdad International Exhibition, Falih said cooperation between Iraq and Saudi Arabia contributed to “the improvement and stability we are seeing in the oil market”

Falih is the first Saudi official to make a public speech in Baghdad for decades. The two countries began taking steps towards detente in 2015 after 25 years of troubled relations starting with the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

Tension remained high after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, which toppled Saddam Hussein. The American occupation of Iraq empowered political parties representing Iraq’s Shi‘ite majority, close to Saudi Arabia’s regional rival Iran.

With a thaw in relations, Falih said a joint committee is “working on measures to speed up the establishment of an economic partnership and to reactivate cooperation and economic complementarities.”

Iraq is seeking economic benefits from closer ties with Riyadh while Saudi Arabia hopes a stronger relationship with Baghdad would help rollback Iran’s influence in the region. Saudi Arabia and Iraq are respectively the biggest and second biggest producers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).