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Iran, Iraq discuss 1975 border disputes

TEHRAN, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Deputy foreign ministers from Iraq and Iran met to implement terms outlined in a 1975 border treaty and its additional protocols of good neighborly relations.

The Iraqi minister, Mohammed al-Haj Mahmoud, met with his counterpart in Iran, Mohammad Baqeri, in Tehran to discuss the terms of the Algiers Agreement ahead of a historic visit to Iraq by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, The Tehran Times said.

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The 1975 Algiers Agreement was to implement a full delineation of the land and water boundaries between the two countries, establish security and confidence-building measures along the joint border and develop ties of good neighborly relations and mutual cooperation.

Neither party honored the treaty, and disputes over the Shatt El Arab waterway, Iraq's only outlet to the sea, led to the Iran-Iraq war in 1980.

Officials from both nations agreed to reinstate certain points of the Algiers Accord when Iraqi President Jalal Talabani expressed interest in negotiating a settlement in December, al-Sumaria said.

The al-Alam news agency reported Thursday that Iran expressed its support for the Iraqi central government and both sides agreed to demarcate their border based on the Algiers Agreement.

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Baqeri said "joint committees will install border marks" in accordance with the Algiers Agreement next week.

The parties also discussed the joint use of the Shatt El Arab waterway for trade purposes.

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