MOSCOW, Aug 3, (KUNA): Kuwait-Russian committee members said Tuesday trade exchange and commercial cooperation between the two countries were not as solid at the political ties. Kuwait Minister of Oil and Minister of Information Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Sabah and Russian Energy Minister Sergey Shmatko, at a joint news conference at the end of the committee’s two-day meeting said that they acknowleged that commercial ties were not as strong as political relations. “We have to work harder than ever,” they agreed.
They said that both countries need to speed up the formation of two sub-committees, the first dealing with oil, gas and other energies, while the other deals with science and technology. Both ministers said they discussed possible opening of investment offices in the two countries, the exchange of information about these offices and needed feasibility studies before setting them up.
Sheikh Ahmad said the two countries’ signing of the final protocol of the committee would largely contribute to paving the way for the visit of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah to Russia.
Kuwait was the first Arab Gulf country to establish diplomatic relations with Russia, he noted and being the rotating President of the GCC “then the visit of the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to Russia will be particularly important and will push for cooperation in all domains.”
Sheikh Ahmad, meanwhile, hoped cooperation between Russia and OPEC would be strengthened for the benefit of all parties and the oil markets.
The Kuwaiti minister, on the other hand, said a delegation from Kuwait would be visiting Russia in the next few weeks to prepare an agreement over the peaceful use of nuclear energy. “We hope the initial draft of this agreement is finalized quicky in order to sign it,” he said.
Shmatko said the nuclear energy cooperation would further cement cooperation, namely in the commercial domain. “The State of Kuwait has a huge five-year plan for investment in the domain of infrastructure with an estimated cost of $200 billion, with large contribution from the private sector. We are specially interested in the possible participation of the Russian companies in these investment programs,” said Shmatko.
He said Russia was keen on having good relations with OPEC.
Earlier, Shmatko said that his country attaches great importance to boosting economic and trade ties with all Arab Gulf States in general and Kuwait in particular.
Shmatko noted — that “we look forward to prospective horizons for boosting cooperation in all fields, particularly energy, investment and infrastructre as well as embarking upon joint ventures with Kuwait in the field of energy.” He added that, “for seizing such opportunity, we should go ahead with cooperation through signing bilateral agreements and getting acquainted with laws applied in both of Kuwait and Russia.” “We agreed upon exchanging data on the big projects that would be carried out in Kuwait in order to enable Russian firms study them and determine to what extent they could participate in them,” Shmatko noted.
The Kuwaiti delegation includes Kuwait’s Ambassador to Russia Nasser Al-Mozayen, head of the Foreign Ministry’s economic department Sheikh Ali Al-Khalid, Commerce and Industry Undersecretary Rasheed Al-Tabtebaie, Finance Undersecretary Khalifa Hamada, and Director General of Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) Dr. Naji Al-Mutairi.
The delegation also includes Assistant Undersecretary for Economic Affairs at the Oil Ministry Nawaf Al-Fzai’, Deputy Managing Director for the affairs of the president’s office at Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), Suhail Al-Mutairi, head of the culture department at the National Council for Culture, Arts, and Letters (NCCAL) Sahl Al-Ajmi, head of the loans department at Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) Mishaal Al-Hammad, assistant chief of staff at the Defense Ministry’s supplies body Major General Ali Al-Ateeqi, and Sahib Al-Mosawi of the Oil Ministry.