Saudi to fence border with Iraq to restrict illegal entries

Dubai, Nov 6 (UNI) Saudi Arabia is going ahead with its plan to build a security wall along its border with Iraq that would restrict the illegal movement of people on both directions, the Saudi Interior minister said in Riyadh.

The Saudi government has received 14 applications from local and international firms to build the wall, Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz said.

''We are now in the process of evaluating the proposals and the implementation will begin soon,'' he said.

He also stressed the close collaboration among the Interior Ministries of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states for combating terrorism. Saudi Arabia signed ''anti-terrorism'' agreements with Oman and the UAE and would soon sign similar ones with Kuwait and Qatar.

The Saudi Kingdom was due to sign with Italy an agreement regarding comprehensive security agreement that covered combating terrorism, drugs, money-laundering, criminals extraditions and the exchange of relevant data.

UNI