Amir terms JASTA breach of trust – ‘Respect covenants, treaties’

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BANGKOK, Oct 10, (KUNA): Addressing the 2nd Asia Cooperation Dialogue Summit (ACD) which began in Bangkok on Monday, His Highness the Amir, who heads the State of Kuwait delegation to the top-level convention, called on Asian nations to utilize joint potentials and diverse capacities that can be capitalized upon to exert further efforts and realize aspirations of our peoples, security and stability of our homelands in diverse sectors.

“Moreover we ought to respect our covenants and treaties and seek to resolve our differences peacefully to present to the world an ideal sample with respect of international dealing that may safeguard our homelands and promotion of our communities. Furthermore, we ought to defend international covenants and charters that govern our world, where the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), recently endorsed in the United States of America, constitutes a breach of such treaties’ rules and harm to our interests.”

Our second summit is being held while the continent faces grave challenges and dangers where we have all suffered from annihilating wars that resulted in many victims and weakened economies of the regional countries and obstructed their capacities and efforts for achieving the required developments.

Our communities today suffer from mounting challenges such as annihilating wars  poverty, low level of healthcare, illiteracy, environmental problems and rapid population growth, although we are aware of the necessity of collective action to face these challenges.

However, our Asian joint action has remained below the aspirations, despite the vast geographic size of the continent and the huge demographic status. “My country Kuwait realizes significance of its Asian arena and has sought to promote Asian-level joint action to realize this approach, thus it has hosted meetings of the Secretariat General for dialogue in the past three years.” The State of Kuwait has also been engaged at the Asian level in realms such as communications and sustainable development, His Highness the Amir stated, noting that Kuwait had announced during the Kuwait summit at this level an initiative to raise $2 billion to fund development ventures in non-Arab Asian countries, where Kuwait at the time contributed to its budget. His Highness the Amir called “on the other States” to contribute to this program for sake of achieving the high-status goals. He praised written proposals presented by Thailand including a visionary approach for regional cooperation till 2030.

“This is a vision that depicts our resolve for cooperation and lays down plans to move forward.” Cooperation amongst members of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue Summit (ACD) was the main theme in the address given by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to the second meeting for the regional organization. His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al- Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah highlighted during the event the need for utilizing joint potentials and diverse capacities to realize the aspirations of the Asian countries and also to achieve security and stability in the region.

The Kuwaiti leader called for a collective effort to combat poverty and environmental problems in Asia. He stressed the importance of developing healthcare and housing welfare for the people of the continent. His Highness the Amir also called on ACD members to respect international laws and norms stipulated by world organizations. The Kuwaiti leader examined the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), recently endorsed in the United States of America, saying that it constituted a breach of international treaties’ rules.

Kuwait will be working with its Asian partners to achieve development on all possible spheres, said His Highness Sheikh Sabah who noted that his country announced in 2012 an initiative to form an Asian development fund with a capital of $2 billion.

The Kuwaiti leader called on all Asian nations to seek the 2030 development goals as one unit to achieve prosperity for the region. On his part, the Prime Minister of Thailand Prayut Chan-o-cha echoed similar statements, urging Asian nations to seek means to boost cooperation on all possible fields especially within the economic domain. Boosting ties within the political, commercial, and social spheres should also be amongst the top priorities of the ACD, said Chan-o-cha who expressed that Thailand was willing to become a vital player in building bridges of mutual understanding and cooperation amongst Asian nations.

The Thai Prime Minister took a chance to thank Kuwait for hosting the headquarters of the ACD secretariat and also commended the Gulf country for its efforts in promoting ties in the Asian continent. In statements to KUNA at the ACD, the State of Kuwait Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Suleiman Al-Jarallah said that the summit helped in achieving sustainable development in the continent of Asia.

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