Kuwait envoy H E Hafeez Mohammed Al Ajmi
Doha: Ambassador of the State of Kuwait to Qatar H E Hafeez Mohammed Al Ajmi affirmed that his country’s celebration of its 61st National Day and the 31st Anniversary of Liberation Day are two occasions to strengthen the spirit of belonging to the homeland and renew loyalty to it.
He recalled the date of June 19, 1961, when the Declaration of Independence was signed and the protection agreement with Britain was canceled, then on May 18, 1964, a decree was issued merging the National Day on the Sitting Day, which is the anniversary of the late Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Abdullah Al Salim Al Sabah assuming the reins of government in his country, which falls on February 25 every year.
In a statement to Qatar News Agency (QNA) on this occasion, the Ambassador said that these two occasions are an opportunity to emphasize the strength of the solid and rooted Kuwaiti-Qatari relations at all levels, as the two countries have relations of distinct privacy, bearing common features based on the unity of destiny and purpose.
He noted that it also represents an opportunity to recall the noble positions of the brothers in the countries of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) and the Arab countries and friends from the various countries of the coalition, who did not rest until the State of Kuwait's legitimacy returns and among them was the State of Qatar, which had a prominent role in the “epic of restoring the right to its people.”
He stressed the efforts of the states of Kuwait and Qatar to achieve integration and interdependence in all vital areas that achieve the aspirations of their peoples, indicating that these relations reflect the insistence of the two wise political leaderships in the two countries to push and advance them to higher and more integrated levels.
Hafeez Mohammed Al Ajmi said that since the founding of Kuwait and Qatar, there have been continuous efforts that included all political, economic, commercial, and investment fields, and cooperation in the military and security fields, education, tourism, and art. A joint higher committee was established on June 18, 2002, to create twinning between the two brotherly countries covering all aspects of cooperation and searching for wider horizons for brotherhood, he added.
He pointed out that the joint higher committee met in five sessions, and completed many agreements, memoranda of understanding, and joint programs, where its last meeting was a virtual meeting in Nov. 2020 during which five memoranda of understanding (MoUs) were signed to enhance the joint cooperation in the fields of encouraging direct investment, civil service affairs, administrative development, and Islamic affairs. Besides, an MoU for cooperation in the various agricultural fields, and an MoU on improving the implementation, construction, and maintenance of roads, in addition to the minutes of the fifth meeting of the joint higher committee.
Ambassador of Kuwait also explained that a large percentage of these agreements aim to enhance a large economic presence in both countries, which resulted in a volume of trade exchange that amounted to about $293m for the first nine months of 2019, pointing out that the number of Kuwaiti companies that entered the Qatari market with 100 percent ownership is 170 companies, while the number of joint Qatari-Kuwaiti companies operating in the Qatari market reached 626.