Manama: Argentina President Cristina Kirchner will visit Kuwait, Qatar and Turkey later this month, official sources said in Buenos Aires.

Kirchner will arrive in Kuwait on January 16 on a two-day stay, then head to Qatar on another two day visit before going to Turkey for meetings on January 20-21, according to the official agenda for the trip.

Argentina which last month, alongside several South American countries, recognised Palestine as an independent state is home to a large Arab community, mostly of Syrian-Lebanese descent.

The Federation of Argentine-Arab Entities (Fearab) believes there are approximately three million immigrants from the Arab world living in Argentina, out of a total population of 40 million.

Argentina Foreign Minister Hector Timerman on Thursday said that his country was open to the Arab world.

Cristina Kirchner, the widow of former President Néstor Kirchner, is Argentina's first elected female President, and the second female President ever to serve, after Isabel Martínez de Perón, 1974–1976, who was elected as vice president of Juan Domingo Perón and became president after his death.