The Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that Egypt's negotiations with the Iraqi government will continue over bank interest on remittances for Egyptians who were working in Iraq until the early 1990s.
Iraq owes money to Egyptian workers who fled Iraq during the first Gulf War, following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, leaving their money and businesses behind. 637,000 Egyptians are owed remittances.
On Sunday, the two sides agreed on disbursing the money, a transaction known as the “Yellow Transfers,” as the Egyptian Foreign Minister signed an agreement with his Iraqi counterpart, Hoshyar Zebari, to remit some US$408 million to Egypt. The issue of bank interest on the transfer was not addressed.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Amr Roshdy said there is no relation between the signing of the agreement and Egypt’s participation in the coming Arab summit in Baghdad.
“Such a claim is not appropriate, given the brotherly ties between the two peoples,” he said.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
