The UN Security Council on Thursday called on Iraq to step up efforts to normalize ties with neighboring Kuwait, still recovering from the Saddam Hussein-era invasion.

UN envoys are looking for greater progress in helping pin down the fate of Kuwaitis and other foreigners missing since the 1990 war. Property and most of the Kuwaiti national archives also remain missing.

The Iraqi government has made several commitments to carry out its obligations under peace accords but the UN said in a recent report that the progress had come to a virtual standstill in the past two years.

The United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been working with a joint government committee on the various outstanding disputes.

The Security Council said in a statement after a briefing by special envoy on Iraq-Kuwait reconciliation Gennady Tarasov that it welcomed the "continued cooperation by the governments of Iraq and Kuwait."

"Nevertheless, the members of the Security Council stressed the need for Iraq to build on the steps already taken to fully meet these commitments, specifically finding Kuwaiti or third country nationals, property and archives," it added.

The council said more could be done to make missions searching for missing persons more effective and "urged continued cooperation to translate efforts into tangible results."

"Previous calls for greater efforts with regard to the Kuwaiti national archives and other properties had so far yielded limited results," it added, pointing to concern raised by UN leader Ban Ki-moon.

The council called for "an intensification of efforts to clarify the whereabouts of the archives."

Iraq and Kuwait should "continue to act in the spirit of the confidence and cooperation building process, which should contribute to the further strengthening of their good-neighborly relations and enhancing of regional stability." it added.

The two neighbors have not settled their border and Iraq still has to pay almost $20 billion in war damages. The pair are also in dispute over a new Kuwaiti port that Iraq considers a threat to its sea access.