Kuwaiti Justice Minister concludes Netherlands visit
THE HAGUE: Kuwaiti Minister of Justice and Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Yaqoub Al-Sane concluded yesterday his visit to the Netherlands which was aimed at strengthening security, judicial, and counterterrorism cooperation between the two countries. His two-day visit also focused on ways to deepen cooperation between Kuwait and the international judicial organizations based in The Hague.
Sane Friday visited the Peace Palace which is home to a number of international judicial institutions, including the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), the renowned Peace Palace Library, as well as The Hague Academy of International Law.
The head of the international department and first secretary of ICJ, Andrey Puskakukhin briefed the Kuwaiti delegation on the history and the function of the world court. Later, the Secretary General of the PCA Hugo Siblesz gave a presentation on the court followed by an in-depth discussion on ways to boost cooperation with Kuwait.
Kuwait representatives
Sane said that the PCA has proposed to them to choose four members of the PCA who would be the arbitrators and representatives of Kuwait. It also proposed the possibility of a representation of PCA in Kuwait. “I will put forward all these issues to the Kuwaiti government and other issues covered by the constructive meeting,” he said.
The two sides also discussed the possibility of sending judges, lawyers and students from Kuwait to gain more experience in international law, arbitration and human rights. “This shows that the Kuwaiti diplomacy is a strong diplomacy and the PCA officials showed great interest in Kuwait,”he said.
On his part, Siblesz said the “PCA has welcomed Kuwait as a member state some years ago and we have been helped tremendously by the important contribution by AlShumaimri in our financial committee.”
“We are grateful for the State of Kuwait to have put Shumaimri at our disposal,” he said. “Today we discussed various options of enhancing cooperation between PCA and State of Kuwait including the possibility of an host country agreement which would allow the PCA to conduct its hearing in a particular case in Kuwait city under the same conditions that we conduct the hearings in the Peace Palace here in the Netherlands,” he added.
Law conference
After his visit to London, Sane came to The Hague where he on Thursday met with the Dutch Minister of Justice and Security Ivo Opstelten and discussed ways to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in the fields of justice, security and fight against terrorism. —KUNA