Iraq is to resume paying war reparations to Kuwait at the start of 2018, in UN-endorsed compensation for Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of the emirate, the president's office announced Friday.

It said the two countries had agreed during a visit to Kuwait City by President Fuad Masum on Monday for Iraq "to resume payment of the five-percent tax on oil sales and to try to settle border disputes".

Iraq in October 2014 suspended payment of the tax imposed on its oil exports as war reparations by the UN Security Council at the height of an offensive by the Islamic State jihadist group that has now been rolled back.

The outstanding amount of $4.6 billion from a total reparations bill of $52.4 billion is to be paid by the end of 2021, the president's office said.

A US-led international coalition evicted Iraqi troops from Kuwait in February 1991 after a seven-month occupation.

source: AFP