The Gulf area was a bridge between the East and the West, and there were collective efforts to achieve strategic stability of the region, said a former Kuwaiti interior minister on Monday.
Sheikh Thamer Ali Al-Salem Al-Sabah made the statement during the fifth session of the Gulf- German Dialogue Forum on Security and Cooperation which kicked off earlier today.
In his speech, Sheikh Thamer stressed keenness of Kuwait on establishing this forum in 2019, due to its firm belief in the importance of dialogue with Germany, one of the most important decision-makers in Europe.
He noted that the coming times will be more difficult and will require cooperation from everyone, not only to achieve stability in the region, but in order to understand that this difference in national interests and policies does not necessarily mean that “we are on two different sides”. “Instead, boosting denominators is more beneficial than focusing on matters of difference in national policy,” he said.
He pointed out that the Middle East region has witnessed, over the past century, a very large proportion of instability, and that it is still witnessing the emergence of “hotbeds of tension until now, since the vacuum left by the withdrawal of the British Empire, up to the Soviet strategic goal of reaching the warm waters of the Arabian Gulf”.
On the GCC states’ relations with Iran, Sheikh Thamer stated that the region lives in a geographical reality that cannot be changed, stressing that Iran “was our neighbor in the past and will remain so in the future”.
He further went to say that the recent rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran embodies the idea of building on common denominators.
He recalled Kuwait’s endeavors to achieve this goal since 2016 through the efforts led by His Highness the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.
On the long-standing conflicts in Syria, and Yemen, and the new situation in Sudan, Sheikh Thamer said he is looking forward to finding peaceful solutions to these issues based mainly on political dialogue and firm base that allow making tangible progress and sustainable positive results.
Meanwhile, GCC Secretary General Jassim Al-Budaiwi stressed the need of the forum amid challenges and unrest facing the world.
Speaking during the forum, he highlighted progresses and developments made in all sectors in the Gulf community that topped with economy, politics, diplomatic ties, security, human development and others. Several countries and regional communities seek to cement their relations with the GCC, he affirmed.
He referred that the Gulf states and Germany have deep-rooted historical and friendly ties, in addition to “very broad” commercial and investment ones.
Al-Budaiwi elaborated that the Gulf endeavors are not limited to boosting collaboration in energy security, renewable energy, and green hydrogen, as well as strengthening economic and trade relations with Germany, but rather seek to expand them to include new fields like education, scientific research, vocational training, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity. – KUNA
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