WASHINGTON: Kuwaiti Ambassador to Canada Reem Al-Khaled has received Canada’s Best Ambassador in Middle East award for 2023 in recognition of her efforts over the past three years. She was given the award during a ceremony organized by University of Ottawa in association with the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Public Diplomacy Council (IPDC) on Friday.

The IPDC is a non-for-profit group based in the Netherlands with the mandate to support and enhance the practice of public diplomacy at the national and international level. The award was based on the fact that Khaled is the first woman from the Middle East and Arabian Gulf region to chair the Women Heads of Diplomatic Missions in Ottawa (WHDMO), in addition to her continued engagement with the youth through her various meetings with Canadian university students, the Kuwaiti embassy in Ottawa said in a release.

The ambassador said she is very pleased to have been honored in appreciation of her efforts since she took over as Kuwait’s top diplomat in Canada. She added she would even exert more efforts to further promote and develop distinguished relations between Kuwait and Canada, and develop people-to-people ties. She added the embassy managed to deepen Kuwait’s relations with Canada, citing in this regard the successful visit paid by Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Salem Al-Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to Canada in May. The visit witnessed the signing of bilateral cooperation deals and MoUs and paved the way for broadening the scope of relations between both countries, the ambassador pointed out. – KUNA