Putin invited to attend conference hosted by Kuwait in Nov

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) ad.ajs KUNA 111736 Oct 13NNNN