KUWAIT: Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah said here Wednesday Kuwait's allocation of a training site for NATO is part of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, which was launched by the alliance in 2004.
Speaking at a joint news conference with visiting Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders, the Kuwaiti minister said Kuwait's NATO training site allocation shows its continuing interest in international missions.
He said Kuwait was the first country to welcome the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, which is related to regional security and stability.
The initiative was launched at the Alliance's Summit in the Turkish city in June 2004 with the aim of contributing to long-term global and regional security by offering countries of the broader Middle East region practical bilateral security cooperation with NATO.
"We are interested in regional security and stability, and we want to be partners with everyone having interest to achieve that," he said.
On his talks with his Belgian counterpart, he said they had discussed ways and means of bolstering and cementing bilateral cooperative ties in various fields, mainly education and health, as well as the latest regional and international developments, according to Kuwait news agency (KUNA).
On threats by the UN envoy in Yemen to impose sanctions on its opposition groups if they fail to join national dialogue, Sheikh Sabah said: "We gave much attention to this matter during today's talks. The GCC member states attach a special significance to Yemen."
He added that GCC Secretary General Abdul-Latif Al-Zayani is now in Yemen to facilitate national dialogue, noting that "national dialogue is one of the mechanisms of the Gulf initiative".
Sheikh Sabah said "We are ready to remove all obstacles facing the national dialogue and prepare the ground for addressing all issue of common concern for the Yemenis."
"Representative of the GCC and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council regularly meet in Yemen to verify that the implementation of the GCC Initiative for Yemen is on the right track," he said.
"I think that time is ripe now for all political parties in the country to converge on the negotiating table of the national dialogue," he added.
Asked whether the GCC Summit will discuss the Gulf Union issue, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid said this issue will be discussed at a special summit in
Riyadh.
Regarding the redeployment of US and British forces in Kuwait, he said the matter has to do with the bilateral defense agreements among the nations concerned as well as their common interests.
"The State of Kuwait is committed to cooperation with the US and Britain in such areas as military training and experience sharing," Sheikh Sabah pointed out.
For his part, Didier Reynders said Belgium seeks to ink agreements with Kuwait on cooperation in several fields, lauding the close friendly ties.
The discussions with the Kuwaiti side dealt with regional issues particularly how to stabilize the situations in some turbulent countries in the Middle East such as Syria, he said, noting that Belgium is trying to organize a conference on Syria.
Belgium has some visions for solving the Palestine question and restoring unity between Hamas and Fatah groups, he went on.
Reynders lauded Kuwait's democracy which kept flourishing over the last five decades, citing the country's efforts to empower women politically. (QNA)
