The Ambassador of Belgium to Kuwait H.E. Piet Heirbaut hosted a reception at his residence on Wednesday, 15 November in honor of King’s Day. The Assistant Foreign Minister for European Affairs H.E. Waleed Al Khubaizi was the chief guest at the function with members of the diplomatic corps, Kuwaiti officials and media personnel in attendance. Every 15 November since 1866, for over 148 years, King’s Day has been celebrated in honor of the Belgian monarch. 15 November marks the first day of the Feast of Saint Leopold in the German liturgical calendar, while it is the Feast of Saint Albert in the Roman Catholic Calendar.
On the occasion of the celebration, Ambassador Heirbaut released the following statement, which read: “on the occasion of King’s Day, to present my country to you. Most of you know Belgium as the land of fries and waffles, comic books and of course, high quality chocolate. Yet, my country has so much more in store. Belgium is in the top 3 of most Globalized countries in the world, according to the latest KOF index of Globalization. We are in fact the per capita biggest exporters in the world as 80 percent of our prosperity stems from selling products and services abroad. This has led to many success stories on a global scale, some of them in Kuwait.”
He added, “Like the State of Kuwait, the Kingdom of Belgium attaches a lot of importance to peace and stability on a regional and global scale. Therefore my country is candidate for a non-permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council and we hope to join Kuwait in the council from January 2019 onwards. The celebration of King’s Day is the perfect occasion to bring our countries even closer together and I am looking forward to working with you in the next coming years.”