Historical embrace between Crown Prince Abdullah, Iraq's Ibrahim

The Saudi crown prince Abdullah and the deputy chairman of the revolution's council in Iraq Izzat Ibrahim on Thursday entered the conference's hall and embraced each other amid the applause of the Arab conferees before the opening of the closing session of the summit in preparation to declare the final statement.

The chairman of the Kuwaiti delegation Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad and Izzat Ibrahim, the chairman of the Iraqi delegation shook hands before the cameras in amid the applause of the attendants at the final session of the Arab summit.

This surprise came after the announcement made by the Iraqi foreign minister Naji Sabri that Iraq pledged ( in writing ) not to repeat the invasion of Kuwait and this was expressed through his consent on the final formulation of the special article "on the case between Iraq and Kuwait" in the final statement of the summit.

The article on the case between Iraq and Kuwait, which was approved by the two countries, stated welcome to the confirmation made by Iraq to honor Kuwait's independence and sovereignty and ensuring its security so as to avoid what had happened in 1990. The statement also calls for the "cooperation between the two sides in the question of the missing."

The Iraqi minister considered that this meeting is balanced and meets the requirements of the two delegations and expresses the desire to look forward. Sabri also praised the activities of the Omani and the Qatari delegations who "permitted reaching this balanced text and played a basic role in bringing view points together." Moreover, several sideline meetings were held on Wednesday evening in this event, shared by Qatar and Oman and the secretary general of the Arab League Amr Moussa.

This is, however, the first time since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in which an Arab summit was able to include in its final statement a text on the "case between Iraq and Kuwait" that wins the consent of the two sides.