Kuwaiti Ambassador calls on Veep

The Kuwaiti government has commended Ghana for the principled position it took against Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

The Kuwaiti Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Mohammed Hussain Al-Failakawi, who gave the commendation when he paid a courtesy call on the Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, at the Flagstaff House last Friday, said, “Kuwait will never forget Ghana’s position during the crisis.”

The Kuwaiti Ambassador is resident in Benin but has responsibility for Ghana. Mr Al-Failakawi said his country would forever be grateful to Ghana and stated that plans were afoot for Kuwait to establish an embassy in Accra, as part of efforts to deepen trade and bilateral ties between the two countries.

He expressed the Kuwaiti government’s willingness to deepen diplomatic and trade ties with Ghana.

The invasion of Kuwait, also known as the Iraq–Kuwait War, resulted in a seven-month-long Iraqi occupation of Kuwait.

The US-led forces in the Gulf War engaged in direct military intervention to save Kuwait from Iraq’s occupation in 1990.

 Vice-President

 Responding, Mr Amissah-Arthur said it was needless for larger countries to attack smaller ones as was the case in the Iraq-Kuwait conflict and that Ghana added its voice to the several other voices around the world to condemn the attack.

He recalled his visit to Kuwait two years ago where he attended the Africa-Asia summit and also held talks with the Kuwaiti authorities on plans to establish a mission in Ghana.

Against that backdrop, Mr Amissah-Arthur said his visit to Kuwait was yielding results some of which had found expression in the arrangement being made by the Kuwaiti government to establish an embassy in Ghana.

 Kuwaiti support

Touching on Kuwaiti support to Ghana, Mr Amissah-Arthur said Kuwait had extended support to Ghana in many areas, particularly in the power sector, and called for further support towards infrastructural, ports and railways development.

He asked the Kuwaiti government to extend further assistance to Ghana through the Kuwait Fund to finance critical projects.

The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED), commonly known as the Kuwait Fund, is Kuwait’s agency for the provision and administration of financial and technical assistance to developing countries.

 Economy

On the economic front, the Vice-President told the ambassador that Ghana’s economy had gone through challenges in the last few years owing to external factors, including the fall in producer prices of cocoa.

He stated that in spite of the difficulties, the government was weathering the storm by finding resources from elsewhere to pursue its development agenda and mentioned the External Credit Facility with the International Monetary Fund as one of such interventions.

Writer’s email: sebastian.syme4@gmail.com