Kuwait said Monday it has started contacting the World Bank and other countries to prepare for hosting a donors' conference next year on rebuilding Iraq.
The donors' conference is expected to be held in the first quarter of 2018, Kuwaiti Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Al-Jarallah said at a reception held by the Iraqi Embassy to celebrate the liberation of Mosul from the terror group Islamic State (IS).
"Kuwait has always stood by Iraq via the international coalition (fighting IS) and bilaterally," Al-Jarallah was quoted by the official news agency KUNA as saying.
Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah told Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi during a phone call on July 11 that Kuwait was ready to host an international conference on rebuilding the liberated areas in Iraq.
The World Bank had also said it would support the long-term reconstruction of the liberated areas in Iraq. World Bank Regional Director Saroj Kumar said the bank would support Iraq's economic reform plans, and the reconstruction and development of Iraqi cities, the KUNA report said.
The statement comes after days of the call launched by Kuwait’s leader to host an international conference this year on rebuilding parts of Iraq reclaimed from ISIS. Sheikh Sabah made the offer to Iraq’s prime minister Haider Al Abadi in a telephone call following the “historic victory” in Mosul, according to the Kuwait News Agency.
He told the prime minister that the offer was a gesture of solidarity with Iraq, a country which invaded the emirate in 1990 leading to the First Gulf War.
The scale of the reconstruction project in Mosul alone is huge, with other areas of the country still remain under ISIL control. The battle for Mosul lasted for nine months leaving thousands dead and two-thirds of the city’s residential districts either moderately or heavily damaged, according to the U.N.
Sheikh Sabah said he hoped that the victory over ISIL proclaimed by the prime minister on Monday in the city would increase unity across Iraq, echoing comments made by the  senior US commander in Iraq, Lt Gen Stephen Townsend.
The commander told the BBC that the government had to reach out to the Sunni Arab majority to ensure the defeat of ISIL across the country. The group was able to exploit Sunni anger at the sectarian policies of the Shia Arab-led government to seize parts of north and west Iraq three years ago.