Manama: Kuwait has submitted an official request to join the African Union as an observer, the official news agency said.
The move comes ahead of the Arab country hosting the third Arab-African Summit, scheduled for 2013, the first to be held outside Africa.
The request included in a letter from Shaikh Mohammad Sabah Al Salem Al Sabah, the foreign minister, was handed by Mohammad Nahi Al Alati, the acting charge D'affaires at the Kuwaiti embassy in Ethiopia, to Jean Ping, the chairman of the African Union (AU) Commission, Kuna reported.
The embassy said that Ping welcomed the Kuwaiti request and "paid tribute to Kuwait, and particularly to the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, for the support for many African nations."
Al Alati said that Kuwait was interested in developing its relations with all African countries.
