LOC20:50
17:50 GMT
(with photos)
BERLIN, June 3 (KUNA) -- German economic officials and their Arab
counterparts asserted here Thursday the significance of the visit paid by H.H.
the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to Germany during last April.
These officials expressed, in the addresses delivered during the 13th
German-Arab Business Forum organized by the German-Arab Chamber of Industry
and Commerce (GACIC) here their happiness for this visit made by H.H. the
Amir, asserting that it invested ties between the Gulf Cooperation Council
(GCC) states and Germany with positive effects and opened up new horizons
ushering in optimism and development.
On his part, German Minister of State in the Ministry of Economy and
Technology Bernd Pfaffenbach stressed the importance of economic and trade
cooperation between his country and the Arab countries, pointing out that
exchange of expertise and joint cooperation made a big stride forward.
He also said that this is proved by the exchange of high-level visits, the
last of which was the visit paid by H.H. the Amir of Kuwait to Germany and the
visit recently paid by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the UAE, Saudi
Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar.
Pfaffenbach also deemed meetings between Arab and German sides within the
framework of the periodical German-Arab Economic Forum important and necessary
gathering on the path of developing joint relations and cooperation.
He also noted the signed agreements between Germany and the Arab countries
in the trade and economic fields as an indispensable basis for promoting
cooperation in various technical, energy, economic and educational domains as
well as in the trade sectors, "not only for Germany, but also for the eurozone
as a whole."
The German minister spoke highly of the Arab investment in Germany and the
corresponding German investment in the Arab region including Kuwait, noting
that the global financial crisis did not negatively affect this important
sector in what benefited the two sides.
Further, he mentioned the available potentials that ensure overcoming of
the financial crisis through joint cooperation between the two sides, adding
that Germany is ready to provide expertise in all aspects in order to further
this cooperation.
Additionally, a big number of Arab and German officials -- including
Chairman of the German-Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce Thomas Bach, the
Chamber's secretary general Abdul-Aziz Al-Makhlafi and Saudi Arabia ambassador
to Berlin Osama Al-Shoubshki -- asserted during these meetings their
satisfaction with the distinctive time-honored ties between their country and
the Arab countries. (end)
sh.aff
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