The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is to appoint an ambassador to Baghdad in the next few days, the Iraqi government said Thursday, welcoming the move as an important step by Arab countries to re-engage with Iraq. No ambassador from any Arab country has been stationed permanently in Baghdad since Egypt's envoy was kidnapped and killed shortly after arriving in 2005. Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, in a statement, welcomed the UAE's “efforts to enhance diplomatic Arab representation in Iraq”. The UAE has not yet made an official announcement itself. UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahayan arrived in Iraq Thursday for the first visit by a Gulf Arab foreign minister since the US invasion in 2003. Sheikh Abdullah, on a previously unannounced visit to the Iraqi capital, held talks with Maliki as well as his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari and President Jalal Talabani. “Sheikh Abdullah's visit to Baghdad is the first by a GCC foreign minister,” an Emirati official said. The UAE withdrew its top envoy from Iraq in May 2006 after one of its diplomats was kidnapped and held for nearly two weeks by Islamist militants. It has maintained only low-level representation in Iraq since. Iraq urged its creditors to cancel about $60 billion in debts at an international conference last month in Sweden. Maliki plans to visit the UAE and Iraq's debt to the country will be discussed, said government spokesman Ali Al
