ARMENIA AND KUWAIT AGREE TO OPEN EMBASSIES

Tert
Nov 5 2009
Armenia

Yesterday, Kuwaiti National Assembly Speaker Jassem Mohammad al-Kharafi
and Kuwaiti Prime Minister Nasser al-Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah
welcomed Armenian President Serzh Sargysan.

During the meeting with the Kuwaiti Prime Minister, issues related
to prospects of economic cooperation between the two countries were
discussed. The parties emphasized that Armenian and Arab people’s
mutual respect and positive feelings are a favourable basis allowing
for cooperation in various sectors and realization of economic and
cultural cooperation in their entirety. Sargsyan emphasized that
Armenia has a positive experience of economic cooperation with Persian
Gulf countries, and if adequate measures are taken and in sequence,
it’s possible to reach the desired results in Armenian-Kuwaiti
economic cooperation.

President Sargsyan proposed to create an intergovernmental commission
in order to implement the agreements reached and develop bilateral
relations on an institutional level. The Armenian president and Kuwaiti
prime minister were of the same opinion that opening embassies in
Armenia and Kuwait will promote further development of relations
and ongoing political dialogue, emphasizing that the small volume
of trade currently between the two countries doesn’t correspond to
its actual potential. The two countries’ foreign ministries were
then assigned to propel consultations on opening embassies in the
two capitals. The parties also arranged to accelerate steps towards
encouraging investments between the two countries and to sign an
agreement on mutual protection.

At the end of the first day of the official visit, Sargsyan also
held negotiations with Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber
al-Sabah.

After the end of the negotiations, President Sargsyan and the Kuwaiti
leader attended the official signing ceremony of the intergovernmental
agreements on cooperation in agriculture, education, culture and
tourism, as well as on exclusion of double taxation and prevention of
tax evasion. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh
Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah evaluated the signing of the five
intergovernmental agreements as "a significant result of the Republic
of Armenia president’s official visit and an important step to move
the cooperation between the two countries forward in many directions."