4 Kuwaitis rich beyond $1 bln bar, says report

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 19: The fifth annual report on global wealth for 2014 by the Credit Swiss Research Institute indicates that four Kuwaitis are rich beyond the $1 billion bar and Kuwait is second among the GCC countries after Saudi Arabia, with six of its citizens worth over $1 billion while Qatar and UAE share the third place, reports Al-Qabas daily.

Report indicated that Egypt tops the Arab countries with eight billionaires, followed by Saudi Arabia, while Kuwait and Morocco shared the third position, and with UAE and Qatar sharing the fourth position. It stated that six people in Kuwait are worth between $500 million and $1 billion.

It stressed that 73 Kuwaitis are worth between $100 million and $500 million, Reuters by telephone that he was looking after 15 patients, including children and the elderly.

“We need medicine, including antibiotics and milk for the children, and medicine for the elderly, who have heart conditions, diabetes and high blood pressure,” Omer said.

Hundreds of thousands have fled Islamic State’s advance. Turkey hosts about 1.5 million Syrian refugees, including almost 200,000 Syrian Kurds from Kobani.

Ankara has refused to rearm beleaguered Kurdish fighters, who complain they are at huge disadvantage in the face of Islamic State’s weaponry, much of it seized from the Iraqi military when the militants took the city of Mosul in June.

Turkey views the YPG with suspicion for its long-standing links with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a 30-year armed campaign for self-rule in Turkey.

President Tayyip Erdogan was quoted in the Turkish media on Sunday as saying Ankara will never arm the YPG through its political wing, the PYD.

“There has been talk of arming the PYD to establish a front here against Islamic State. For us, the PYD is the same as the PKK, it’s a terrorist organisation,” he was quoted as saying.

This stance has sparked outrage among Turkey’s own Kurds, who make up about 20 percent of the population. Riots in several cities earlier this month killed left than 35 people dead.

In a call with Erdogan on Saturday night, Obama expressed appreciation for Turkey hosting over a million refugees, including thousands from Kobani.

“The two leaders pledged to continue to work closely together to strengthen cooperation against ISIL (Islamic State),” the White House said.

Obama’s approach to Islamic State has drawn fire from his political opponents at home.

“We have dropped a bomb here and a missile there, but it has been a photo-op foreign policy,” US Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a Republican and a potential presidential candidate in 2016, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” show.

He criticised Obama for delays in aiding Kurdish fighters in desperate need of weapons and assistance.

Solidarity

A visiting Arab delegation led by Kuwait’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah on Sunday reiterated solidarity with the Iraqi government and people in the face of terrorism.

During talks with Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari, the delegation underscored support to Baghdad’s efforts to fight terrorism and extend sovereignty all over the country.

The visit comes amid critical regional conditions resulting from the escalation of terrorist acts that prompt boosting Arab joint action to counter the phenomenon that poses a threat to the whole region as well.

The delegation also includes Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania Ahmed Ould Teguedi, whose country holds the current session of the Arab League, and Secretary General of the Arab League Nabil Al-Araby.

The forces of the US-led coalition striking positions of the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL) are mainly Arab, said Sheikh Sabah Khaled.

He added that the terrorist group poses a threat not only to Iraq, but the whole region as well.

Sheikh Sabah Khaled made the statement in a press conference with his Iraqi counterpart Ibrahim Al-Jaafari following talks by the visiting Arab delegation..

The talks focused on developments in Iraq and the “critical” conditions in the region amid implications of terrorist acts.

Not only does ISIL form a threat to Iraq, but to the whole region, Sheikh Sabah Khaled told the conference, referring to the visit as a sign of “support and solidarity” with Iraq, whose “security and stability is a pillar for the region’s stability.” The delegation includes Mauritanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and while those whose wealth falls between $50 million and $100 million are 119 people. It added over 26,000 Kuwaitis are worth $1million to $5 million.

Meanwhile, Al-Anba Newspaper quoted the Australian Ambassador to Kuwait Robert Tyson as saying Kuwait and Australia maintains cordial relations while the volume of Kuwaiti investment in Australia has reached $8 billion. He declared the annual trade exchange between both countries stands at $1 billion.

He reiterated that trade exchange and the rate of investments between both nations signify a blossoming bilateral relation that is moving in the right direction. He assured that Australia is one of the largely developed economies and globally stable and safe countries. Cooperation Ahmed Ould Teguedi, whose country holds the current session of the Arab League, and Secretary General of the Arab League Nabil Al-Araby.

“We have been briefed by the Iraqi officials on the challenges facing the country and the details will be compiled in a report to be submitted to the Arab Foreign Ministers on the visit outcome,” Sheikh Sabah Khaled said.

Developments in Iraq will feature high on the agenda of the coming meeting of the Arab Foreign Ministers, he said, calling for offering more aid to the displaced Iraqis and in the meantime halting financing to terrorists. Stringent control on borders is essential to prevent terrorist from infiltrating into the country, he said.

The Kuwaiti Foreign Minister referred to the Jeddah conference held on Sept 11 to offer political support to the Iraqi government, and the humanitarian aid provided to the displaced Iraqis who were forced to flee their homes in the face of terrorist attacks.

On bilateral ties, Sheikh Sabah Khaled said that the Joint Higher Committee is due to meet by the end of the year, noting that the two countries managed over the past two years to resolve various outstanding files.

In his reply to a KUNA question, Sheikh Sabah Khaled said that he would discuss with Al-Jaafari the exact date for the next Committee meeting.

Addressing the conference, Al-Jaafari highlighted that Baghdad did not ask for any Arab or foreign troops on Iraqi soil.

“Iraq only demanded arming its security forces and training them,” the Iraqi Foreign Minister pointed out.

Referring to bilateral ties, he expressed readiness to activate the Joint Higher Committee and keenness on promoting these relations.

For his part, Al-Araby called for a comprehensive ideological, intellectual and economic confrontation with terrorism and ISIL, not just through military power.

“Combating terrorist thoughts in the region will take a long time, and it has to be comprehensive,” he told the conference, noting that the visit is on behalf of all the Arab countries concerned with Iraq’s stability and welfare.