H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Ahmad Al Sabah co-chair UAE-Kuwait Joint Committee

H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister, on Thursday co-chaired the fourth round of the UAE-Kuwait Joint Committee, which was held via video conference.

Sheikh Abdullah opened his speech by praying to Allah the Almighty to rest the soul of the late Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahamd Al-Jaber Al Sabah.

"Allow me to start by praying to Allah the Almighty to have mercy on the soul of a great Arab man of wisdom and tolerance, the late Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahamd Al-Jaber Al Sabah, whose death brought a loss to Kuwait and to both the Arab and Muslim nations."

Sheikh Abdullah expressed his confidence in the leadership and wisdom of the Amir of Kuwait His Highness Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al Sabah and the Crown Prince H.H. Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al Sabah "We look forward to continuing our joint action to deepen and our fraternal relations and grow them further. We are always keen to exchange views with our brothers in the State of Kuwait on the regional and international challenges, developments and issues, in order to build unified stances to push for further progress and prosperity for the peoples of the region," he added.

Sheikh Abdullah lauded the significant progress of the relations between the two countries over the past years, with non-oil trade surging from US$ 7 billion in 2016 to 10.5 billion in 2019. This enabled Kuwait to become UAE's fifth largest market for the Emirati non-oil exports, while the UAE is the ninth largest market for Kuwaiti exports worldwide.

"The UAE an the State of Kuwait enjoy special relations in terms of investments in many economic sectors, including tourism, construction, development, financial services and retail services. We hope this committee will provide the opportunity for more partnerships and to tackle ways to address challenges facing joint investments."

Sheikh Abdullah concluded by thanking the organizers of preparatory meetings between the two sides and to the participants. He emphasised the importance of following up the outcomes of the Joint Committee rounds to contribute to achieving the two countries' ambitious vision.

In turn, Sheikh Dr. Ahmed emphasised that the exceptional historic relations between Kuwait and the UAE are strategic, special, and deep-rooted as the two countries have commonalities that are based on the unity of destiny and purpose.

He added that the two countries have been seeking, ages ago, to achieve integration and interdependence in all vital domains, indicating that these relations reflect the determination of the leadership in the two countries to further enhance them to higher levels.

He noted that that the Kuwaiti-UAE ties are historically developed over many years, passing through prominent stages that contributed to enhancing communication, whether at the bilateral level or through regional and international organisations, particularly through the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, GCC.

Sheikh Ahamd Al Nasser indicated, " In this regard, we express our happiness to participate in the Expo 2020 Dubai, which will be hosted by the UAE next year."

He pointed out that Kuwait will participate in the expo through a pavilion that is considered the largest in the history of its participation in the international exhibitions.

He stressed the strong relations between the two countries is the greatest motivation towards an effective and distinguished Kuwaiti participation, as the UAE's success in hosting this event is a success for the State of Kuwait, especially since the exhibition will coincide with the celebrations of the UAE's Golden Jubilee in 2021.

The Kuwait Foreig Minister extended thanks and appreciation to Sheikh Abdullah and members of the preparatory committee for the efforts they made to prepare for the work of this committee, which would contributed to managing and facilitating its work, that mirrors the joint desire to boost the strong and solid ties between the two fraternal countries.

Sheikh Abdullah and Sheikh Ahmed signed on the minutes of the 4th joint UAE-Kuwaiti Higher joint committee meeting.

They also signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, on the mutual recognition of eligibility certificates for sea workers and a MoU for cooperation in the Islamic affairs field.

The two sides also signed two executive programmes for cooperation in the educational field, and culture and arts fields.

Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, Minister of State and a number of top officials from the two countries attended the meeting.