The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the United States called on Wednesday for the complete demarcation of Kuwaiti-Iraqi maritime borders, citing a judgment by Iraq’s top court that might upend a decade-old maritime accord between the two countries.
Tensions between Kuwait and Iraq have risen since the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court declared that an agreement governing navigation in the Khor Abdullah canal between the two countries was invalid. According to the court, the statute ratifying the agreement should have been approved by two-thirds of parliament.
The agreement that governs maritime navigation in that canal was concluded in 2012 and confirmed in 2013 by each of their legislative bodies.
The GCC-US joint statement came after a meeting in New York of the GCC’s six foreign ministers, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and GCC Secretary-General Jasem al-Budaiwi.
“They called for the complete demarcation of the Kuwait-Iraq maritime boundary…. and urged the Iraqi government to resolve the domestic legal status of the 2012 Kuwait-Iraq agreement as soon as possible,” the joint statement stated.
The joint statement also “urged Iraq and the United Nations to make every effort to resolve all issues involved.”
The United Nations established its land boundary in 1993 following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. Still, it did not cover the length of their maritime boundaries, which were left to the two oil producers to determine.
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