“The President expressed appreciation to Kuwait’s humanitarian support and assistance to the Kurdistan Region, particularly the assistance to the refugees from Syria and the displaced people from other areas of Iraq,” reads a statement from Barzani’s office.
Sheikh Nawaf last month succeeded his half-brother, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, a key player in Gulf diplomacy who died at the age of 91. Barzani offered his condolences to the new top leader on the death of his predecessor at Tuesday’s meeting.
"The Arab countries and those of the Gulf are of particular importance to us," President Barzani's advisor Falah Mustafa told Rudaw on Tuesday of the visit. "The Kurdistan Region maintains a special relationship with Kuwait."
Speaking to Rudaw on Tuesday, Kuwait's Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Ali Al-Jarrah al-Sabah described relations with the Kurdistan Region as "historical".
"Kuwait and late Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad had very good relations with Iraqi leaders, including those of the Kurdistan Region," the minister said.
Iraq’s relations with Kuwait reached an all-time low when it invaded its oil-rich southern neighbour in 1990, on the order of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
Hussein’s forces set Kuwaiti oil fields ablaze as they were driven out of the country by a US-led the following year.
Relations between the two countries have improved since the fall of Hussein's regime in 2003.
Baghdad has since been repaying billions of dollars in debts to Kuwait for the war following the invasion, and the two countries are working on repatriating the bodies of Kuwaitis killed by Iraqi forces, believed to be buried in mass graves in southern Iraq. Kuwait hosted a conference in February 2018 to raise funds to help rebuild Iraqi cities following the war against the Islamic State (ISIS).
Though the Kurdistan Region has no representation in Kuwait, the latter has had a consular office in Erbil since 2015.
President Barzani offered written condolences for the late emir's death on September 29, the day of his passing.
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