Iraq opens border point with Saudis

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Friday November 1, 2002
The Guardian

Iraq reopened a border crossing with Saudi Arabia yesterday, letting through people and goods for the first time since the frontier was shut after President Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait 12 years ago.
The reopening is one of several signs that Baghdad, facing the prospect of an American and British military attack, wants to improve its relationship with its former Gulf war enemy.

“The opening of the crossing is a step forward towards promoting and strengthening trade ties with Saudi Arabia,” Mohammed Saleh, Iraq’s trade minister, told reporters.

He said Saudi Arabia was among countries that supply Iraq with goods such as cooking oil, soap and milk powder under a UN-run oil for food scheme that allows Baghdad to distribute rations to Iraqis burdened by UN sanctions.

Witnesses at the Ar’ar border point said 100 Saudi trade officials and businesspeople crossed into Iraq to attend Baghdad’s 10-day trade fair, which begins today. It was the largest such delegation to come to Baghdad since the two former Arab allies severed ties after the invasion of Kuwait.

Iraqi trade sources said 43 key Saudi companies planned to take part in the fair.

The border point will allow Saudi Arabia’s exports, which are usually sent to Iraq through neighbouring countries, to cross directly into the country.

Before the Gulf war, the crossing point, 210 miles south-west of Baghdad, was a major route for goods in and out of Iraq. Saudi Arabia asked Baghdad to reopen the border crossing in October 2000 and President Saddam’s regime gave its approval last June.

Five years ago there was no trade between Saudi Arabia and Iraq; trade between the two states is expected to total $1bn (£640m) this year. Saudi Arabia’s exports to Iraq under the oil for food scheme stood at $298m in 2001.

The Ar’ar crossing will be the fifth authorised entry point for humanitarian goods bought with the proceeds of Iraqi oil sales under the UN deal. The four other crossings are at the Iraqi towns of Trebil on the Jordanian border, Al-Walid on the Syrian border, Zakho on the Turkish border and at Um-Qasr on the Gulf.

Under the UN sanctions, all goods sold to Iraq by foreign companies must go through the approved entry points, where independent inspectors deployed by the UN check that they do not include contraband items with potential non-civilian uses.
· Reuters in Ar’ar, Iraq

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More news on this welcome move, by the Saudi’s

Iraq-Saudi Arabia border post reopens today

The main border crossing between Saudi Arabia and Iraq will start normal operations from Friday after 12 years of closure, the Saudi Export Development Center said. The Center said in a statement Thursday that the Arar border and customs post will start handling Saudi exports to Iraq for the first time since 1990, when the post was closed following Iraq’s occupation of Kuwait. The reopening came after the arrival last week of five independent inspectors to verify that cross-border trade respected UN sanctions on Iraq, and following a visit by a Saudi trade delegation to Baghdad. The Saudi side of the post has been ready for several months but the Iraqi side was reopened only last week. The UN inspectors have set up an inspection site for the imports under the UN oil-for-food programme. Arar is the fifth authorised border crossing for imports to Iraq under the programme, which was established in December 1996 to cushion Iraqi citizens from the impact of UN sanctions imposed after the invasion of Kuwait. The other four authorised entry points are: Trebil, on the Jordanian border; Al-Walid, on the frontier with Syria; Zakho, on the border of Turkey; and the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr in the Gulf.

During the Saudi trade delegation’s visit to Baghdad, Iraqi authorities agreed to register 95 Saudi industrial and trade firms, qualifying them to send their exports to Iraq under the UN programme. Iraq and Saudi Arabia, whose diplomatic relations have been cut since the 1991 Gulf war over Kuwait, initiated a rapprochement during an Arab summit in Beirut last March. During the past 12 years, the Arar crossing has been opened only occasionally to allow Iraqi pilgrims into Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest sites. Saudi exports to Iraq under the oil-for-food programme have been sent through Jordan. According to official figures, Baghdad has imported nearly one billions dollars worth of goods from Saudi Arabia under the programme.

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A welcome measure. Iraq needs enhanced exposure to societies beyond their own, they've been isolated for far too long. Insha'Allah other Arab govts., taking their cue from Saudi Arabia which considers itself one of the US's main Arab allies, will also do the same vis-a-vis Iraq.