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Kuwaiti representative visits WFP Rome office to bolster bi-cooperation

UN Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Amiri Diwan Advisor Dr. Abdullah Al-Matouq and WFP Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Amir Abdullah
UN Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Amiri Diwan Advisor Dr. Abdullah Al-Matouq and WFP Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Amir Abdullah

By Mehdi Al-Nemr

ROME, June 4 (KUNA) -- UN Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Amiri Diwan Advisor Dr. Abdullah Al-Matouq visited on Wednesday the headquarters of the World Food Programme (WFP) here and discussed bilateral cooperation and the establishment of a WFP permanent office in Kuwait.
Al-Matouq, accompanied by Kuwait's Ambassador in Rome Sheikh Ali Al-Khaled, started their visit through a meeting with WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin, who welcomed the delegation and thanked Al-Matouq for responding to the invitation in order to enhance cooperation ties and partnership between the humanitarian program and the State of Kuwait.
The two sides highlighted the current humanitarian Syrian crisis as well as ways to coordinate efforts and research to ease the suffering of refugees and displaced Syrians.
The WFP official praised the role of Kuwait leadership to help the Syrians, particularly initiatives made by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, including sponsoring donor conferences to mobilize financial and material support for the Syrian people.
Al-Matouq and Cousin in the presence of the WFP Executive Director Assistant Elisabeth Rasmusson the existing cooperation between the program and Kuwaiti and Islamic charity organizations to improve exchange of expertise and roles in relief operations and support development in similar areas.
Al-Matouq also visited WFP "monitoring room," which manages program operations in various parts of the world, as well discussing with senior officials operations, working mechanisms, and the system structure.
Al-Matouq praised after this visit the high quality of performance and WFP program's ability to immediately follow-up closely developments and hotbeds of crisis in various emergency situations and natural disasters through high level of efficiency.
For his part, WFP Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Amir Abdullah said in a statement to KUNA that Al-Matouq visit and position was a matter of pride due the status of Kuwait and His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah in pioneering humanitarian work in the world and his support to the program.
In this regard, the WFP Executive Director decided to set up a permanent office for the program in Kuwait and is keen in making a private visit to open the office in a month or two.
The Executive Director noted that the establishment of an office in Kuwait aims at having closer relations, a liaison with the government and humanitarian organizations, including Kuwaiti charity organizations and to strengthen its relations with Kuwait, not as a major donor to the program, but also for its pioneering humanitarian role, work, and efforts in the world. (end) mn.mb