LOC17:36
14:36 GMT
Kuwaiti and Russian foreign ministers, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah and Sergey Lavrov
MOSCOW, Oct 11 (KUNA) -- Kuwait has extended an invitation to Russian
President Vladimir Putin to attend the African-Arab Summit, due to be held in
Kuwait in November, said a senior Kuwaiti official on Friday.
The invitation was announced at a press conference held jointly by Kuwaiti
and Russian foreign ministers, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah, who is also
deputy prime minister, and Sergey Lavrov respectively.
Sheikh Sabah said that the Russian president would join the November
conference in his country's capacity as the current chair of the G20 (group of
industrialized) nations.
The invitation came in a letter to President Putin from Kuwait's Amir His
Highness Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, said the Kuwaiti foreign
minister, noting that "we all look forward to president Putin's acceptance of
the invitation."
As for his talks today with his Russian counterpart, Sheikh Sabah described
them as productive and fruitful and focused, among other things, on enriching
bilateral relations in numerous fields, not excluding the economic and
investment ones.
Stressing the fact that these relations were "firm and solid," the Kuwaiti
official recalled the existence of 13 protocols and accords signed by both
sides which he saw as a viable foundation for boosting bilateral ties.
He further recalled the admirable stance of Russia vis-@-vis the Iraqi
invasion of Kuwait in 1990, especially Russia's support of international
resolutions in favor of Kuwaiti rights at that time.
Cognizant of current Kuwaiti investments in Russia, the Kuwaiti foreign
minister expressed Kuwait's keenness to expand the scope of these investments
while at the same time benefiting from the experience of Russian corporate
expertise and Russian business acumen.
He furthermore applauded the Russian role in reaching an agreement
regarding international monitoring of chemical weapons in Syria. "We value
Russia's role in this agreement as it spares the region further military
escalation."
In that vein, he condoned the need to expedite the convening of Geneva II to
allow the Syrian people to decide their own future by themselves.
He also said that Kuwait was coordinating with the UN to have Kuwait host a
donor countries' conference for the benefit of the Syrian people, both those
inside Syria and outside of it in refugee camps.
Responding to a reporter's question on the US-Iranian rapprochement, the
Kuwaiti foreign minister said "We welcome any contacts between countries of
our region and major world powers since that will contribute to the region's
security and stability."
Underscoring the importance of his talks with his Kuwaiti guest, the
Russian foreign minister stressed his country's keenness on encouraging
contacts between Kuwaiti and Russian businesspeople, saying that these
contacts took on an urgency in view of Kuwait's ongoing ambitious
infrastructure development plans which Russian businesses and companies sought
to contribute to.
Lavrov furthermore said his country wanted to do more business with
individual countries in the Gulf region as well as with those countries
wishing to do business with it within the GCC construct.
Noting that the events in the Middle East proceeded with a rapid pace,
Lavrov said that it was necessary for Russia to interact regularly with the
region's nations to reach the common goal of solving current conflicts and
avoiding future ones from erupting.
Sheikh Sabah, along with an official delegation, arrived in Moscow
yesterday on a two-day visit. (end)
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