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Iraq says dispute over Kuwaiti port resolved | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s top diplomat says a dispute over a planned Kuwaiti port has been resolved and that the facility will not disrupt Iraqi shipping in the Persian Gulf.

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari says a technical review shows the Mubarak port that Kuwait is building on the Gulf “won’t affect our navigation,” as had been feared.

In an interview aired late Sunday, Zebari said the review “removed the fears of the Mubarak port.”

Construction of the facility on an island off Kuwait’s coast raised new tensions between the two nations this summer.

Iraq initially objected to the port and feared the country would be cut off from the lucrative Gulf shipping trade just as it regains its economic footing.