EU Committee to visit Kuwait, Saudi Arabia

The chairman of the European Union’s Political and Security Committee (PSE), Walter Stevens, will lead a large 30-member delegation for a visit to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia this week, EU sources said on Friday. The visit will begin in Kuwait on May 2, where the PSE delegation will hold a series of meetings with Kuwaiti government officials and parliamentarians, said the sources requesting anonymity.

The discussions in Kuwait will cover bilateral ties and regional issues including developments in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Palestine, Libya and the Horn of Africa. The PSE delegation will travel to Riyadh on May 3 for meetings with officials of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the Saudi Government, the sources told the Kuwaiti news agency. Observers in Brussels note that this will be the first visit of the PSE to the Gulf region.

The mission points to the growing political and security cooperation between the 28-member EU and the 6-member GCC which groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The PSE is responsible for the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CSFP) and the Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP). It helps EU foreign ministers to reach decisions. PSE is composed of EU member states’ ambassadors based in Brussels. It meets twice a week, and more often if necessary.