Saudi Arabia opened a consulate in the Iraqi capital on Thursday in a ceremony attended by Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohamed Ali al-Hakim.
FOREIGN MINISTER ATTENDED THE CEREMONY
“The foreign minister attended the opening ceremony for the kingdom’s new consulate in Baghdad,” the ministry said in a statement. Iraq-Saudi relations were suspended following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
They were restored after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, but Baghdad’s continued close ties with Iran Riyadh’s arch-rival in the region served to keep relations frosty.
Iraq-Saudi relations picked up, however, during Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s period in office from 2014 to 2018.
