UN welcomes Iraq's compensation postponement

NEW YORK, Dec 19 (KUNA) -- The United Nations chief welcomed the decision of the Governing Council of the United Nations Compensation Commission supporting the Government of Iraq's request to postpone Iraq's obligation to deposit five percent of its oil proceeds into the fund until January 2016.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is particularly grateful to the Government of Kuwait for its support in accepting the request of the Government of Iraq, his press office said in a statement.
Ban expressed his strong solidarity with the Government and the people of Iraq, currently facing a severe security and humanitarian crisis, and encouraged the international community, including countries in the region, to further expand cooperation and support Iraq at this challenging time.
Kuwait's Foreign Undersecretary Khaled Al-Jarallah announced, on December 17th, the State acceptance of Iraq's request to defer payment of the last compensation installment, amounting to USD 4.6 billion.
Iraq has paid compensations to Kuwait for damages incurred as a result of its aggression on Kuwait in 1990 and its seven-month occupation of the country. (end) mao.rk