KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled al-Sabah on Thursday received the first Palestinian ambassador to the Gulf state since the Iraqi invasion in 1990, state news agency KUNA reported.

Top foreign ministry officials attended the reception of Ambassador Rami Tahboub, who is expected to submit his credentials to the emir next week.

Kuwaiti and Palestinian relations were strained over perceived Palestine Liberation Organisation support for former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein after he ordered his troops to invade the emirate in August 1990.

Although there has been no Palestinian embassy operating in Kuwait since then, there has been a small diplomatic office with limited powers.