Top Kuwait lawmaker leaves for Turkey on official visit
KUWAIT/ ANKARA: Kuwaiti National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem headed to Ankara yesterday for a two-day official visit at the invitation of his Turkish counterpart Mustafa Sentop. During his stay in Ankara, the speaker is expected to hold official talks with Sentop and Kuwaiti-Turkish Friendship Committee chairman and members. The top Kuwaiti lawmaker’s accompanying delegation comprises several members of Parliament.
The Speaker of the Grand Turkish National Assembly Mustafa Sentop said yesterday that Kuwait adopts a successful foreign policy under the guidance of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. This came during an interview on the occasion of Ghanem’s visit to Turkey. In the interview, Sentop praised His Highness the Amir’s ability to maintain a balanced policy in the region that faces many challenges, thus leading to formation of permanent channels of dialogue to resolve these conflicts. Sentop considered that close views between the two countries and search for a just solution to promote peace and stability in the region had positive impact on bilateral and regional cooperation. He expressed hope to strengthen and raise the level of bilateral cooperation between the two countries in light of the diplomatic and peaceful solutions adopted by Kuwait and Turkey in their foreign policies to maintain security and stability of the region. He stressed on importance of joint work between the two countries at the level of international and Asian parliaments, in light of the visit of Ghanem and the TurkishKuwaiti parliamentary friendship group to Ankara, where Ghanem is scheduled to hold talks with his Turkish counterpart today.
In this regard, Speaker Sentop referred to trade surplus between the two countries that reached $678 million in 2018, expressing hope to increase it to $1 billion in the short term. Regarding tourism, Sentop said the number of Kuwaiti tourists who visited Turkey in 2019 reached 350,000, while the figure of Kuwaitis who own real estate in Turkey reached 9,594. He believed that there are many areas in which the two countries can enhance relations other than politics and economy. In the same context, The Turkish Parliament Speaker said that Ankara and Kuwait could enhance relations in security, education, health, culture defense, industries, and technology to develop bilateral relations to a higher level. As for the Turkish-GCC partnership, Sentop said, “we adopt humanitarian and peaceful issues, the launch of joint initiatives will enable us to achieve peace and stability in the region,” referring the heritage and values shared with countries of the Arabian Gulf. He stressed the importance of cooperation and joint work between the two parties through international platforms, including the United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, pointing to the holding of ministerial meetings for the Gulf-Turkish strategic dialogue that started in 2008. Considering that the economies of the Gulf region depend mainly on energy sources, therefore the security and stability of the region will generally reflect the entire world.