Saudi Arabia is examining a report by a technical team which recently visited Iraq to decide its next move on reopening its embassy in Baghdad, a minister said on Saturday.
"A delegation went to Baghdad to undertake technical contacts to pave the way for the opening of Saudi Arabia's embassy in Baghdad," Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Nizar bin Obaid Madani told reporters in the Red Sea city of Jeddah. The mission was warmly received and received "full co-operation" from officials in Baghdad, Madani said.
His remarks followed a meeting of foreign ministers of the six Gulf Co-operation Council member states, and were aired on the Saudi news channel Al-Ikhbariya.
"We are currently studying the report presented by the delegation, and in the light of its content we will proceed to take the next steps to open the embassy there," Madani said.
Saudi Arabia announced during a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice a month ago that a diplomatic mission would go to Iraq to consider reopening its embassy. The move would mark a new stage in ties between the Sunni authorities in Riyadh and the Shiite-led Baghdad government.
Oil-rich Saudi Arabia has been suspicious of the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, fearing that it is under the influence of its Shiite regional rival Iran. Iraq reopened its embassy in Saudi Arabia last February after it had been closed in December 1990 on the eve of the 1991 Gulf War when ties were broken off by Saddam Hussein's regime.
The two countries restored diplomatic relations in July 2004, a year after the US-led invasion and ouster of the Iraqi dictator. But Saudi Arabia's embassy in Iraq remained shut because of insecurity in the war-torn country.
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