Prime Minister Essam Sharaf will visit Baghdad, Iraq on 5 and 6 September to finalize negotiations regarding "yellow remittances" to be paid to Egyptians, said Manpower and Immigration Minister Ahmed Hassan al-Borai on Sunday.
Borai will accompany Sharaf on the visit.
"Yellow remittances" refer to the debt owed by Iraq to Egyptian workers who fled Iraq during the First Gulf War in the early nineties following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, leaving their money and businesses behind. This money is owed to approximately 637,000 Egyptians.
The Iraqi government has agreed to disburse the remittances, Borai told reporters, adding that Sharaf and his Iraqi counterpart, Nouri al-Maliki, will hold further negotiations during the visit.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry previously received an memorandum of understanding from Iraq offering to resolve the issue.
The remittances total an estimated US$408 million.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
