Slovenia keen on cooperation with GCC states, Kuwait - Erjavec

By Abdelwaheb El-Gueyed LJUBLJANA, Slovenia, Dec 14 (KUNA) -- The Republic of Slovenia is keen on developing relations with the GCC countries, especially Kuwait, said Karl Erjavec, Slovenian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Tuesday.
Speaking to KUNA on the sideline of the two-day Slovenian-GCC conference, Erjavec said that this will not be the last meeting of this kind to be held in Slovenia, stressing that his country was looking forward for future events aimed at boosting cooperation between the two sides.
The current meeting will look into all suitable measures to enhance cooperation between the GCC and Slovenia, said the minister.
Slovenia, as part of the EU, is willing to boost ties with the Gulf States, said Erjavec who alluded to the 25th meeting of the EU and GCC Foreign Ministers back in July.
The Foreign Minister said that the EU, as one of the strongest partners to the GCC bloc, had signed several agreements to strengthen commercial and economic ties, revealing that the two sides signed an agreement back in April 2016 to boost economic relations.
On relations with Kuwait, Slovenian Minister said that holding dialogue with the Gulf state was within his country's top priorities.
Previous agreements signed between Slovenia and Kuwait had provided solid grounds for the two nations to pursue more cooperation in the near future, said the minister who commended the Kuwaiti participation in the current Slovenian-GCC conference.
Kuwait and Slovenia currently focused their cooperation within the commercial level, said Minister Erjavec who hoped that the two countries will increase their commercial exchange from the 2015 sum of 14.2 million euro.
The Minister took the chance to invite Kuwaitis and GCC business personnel to invest in his country, revealing that the health tourism sector was one of the major business attractions in Slovenia.
Meanwhile, Erjavec touched on the issue of Kuwait's bid for a non-permanent seat as representative of Asia and the Pacific in the UNSC for 2018-19, saying that the strong bilateral relations will reflect positively on Slovenia's stance on the issue. (end) amg.gta