UN envoy set to visit Iraq for talks on return of missing Kuwaitis

The United Nations envoy dealing with the return of missing Kuwaiti nationals and property seized by Iraq following the Persian Gulf War is set to travel to the region later this month, a UN spokesperson said today in New York.

Ambassador Yuli Vorontsov, the UN High-level Coordinator for the repatriation and return of all Kuwaiti and third-country nationals or their remains and the return of all Kuwaiti property, including archives, is scheduled to travel to Baghdad on 17 January for meetings with Iraqi officials on 18 and 19 January, spokesperson Hua Jiang said.

Ambassador Vorontsov's visit to Baghdad, his first since being appointed in 2000, comes after Foreign Minister Naji Sabri invited the High-level Coordinator last month to visit the Iraqi capital.

From Iraq, the UN envoy will travel to Kuwait for meetings there, Ms. Jiang said. Afterwards, Ambassador Vorontsov is scheduled to visit Jordan, Egypt, where he will meet with the Secretary-General of the League Arab States, and Saudi Arabia, for a meeting with the Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).