Manama: Kuwait has been granted Permanent Observer to the African Union (AU) status ahead of the third Arab-African Summit to be hosted by Kuwait in 2013.
The announcement was made after Rashid Al Hajiri, Kuwait's ambassador in Addis Ababa, presented his credentials as the first Permanent Observer of the State of Kuwait to the African Union to Jean Ping, the Chairman of the African Union Commission (AUC.)
Kuwait is the second Gulf country, after the UAE (March 2011), to be granted the status and fourth among Arab countries in Asia.
Al Hajiri said that Kuwait was keen to boost relations with the African continent.
Kuwait submitted its official request to join the African Union as a permanent observer in October.
Ping welcomed the Kuwaiti status and said that "strengthening relations between Africa and the Arab world has always been a top priority for him."
Re-energise relations
Ping "recalled that upon his election as Chairperson of the AUC almost four years ago, he noticed that it had been two decades since the holding of the first Africa-Arab Summit. He resolved to re-energise relations between both regions, culminating in the convening of the second Africa-Arab Summit last year," his spokesman's office said in a press statement.
"The Chairperson expressed appreciation to Kuwait for investing in Africa and promised to work towards helping Kuwait and other Gulf countries to know Africa better and invest even more in the continent," the statement said.
