KUWAIT: Pakistan expressed readiness to facilitate in de-escalating tension in the region and support peace and stability, visiting Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said. "We are concerned about rising tension between the US and Iran," Qureshi said in an interview yesterday. "Pakistan would always be supportive of peace and stability, we would be more than happy to facilitate in de-escalation and I am sure Kuwait is equally interested in de-escalation."

The minister noted, however, "relations between Kuwait and Pakistan have been historically cordial, and politically we have had excellent relations, we have been supporting each other at the regional level and on many global issues our policies on a number of issues are common, and our approach on many regional issues, on the issue of Palestine, they are close to each other."

Kuwait's role
Qureshi meanwhile said Kuwait wanted the settlement of the Kashmir dispute according to UN Security Council resolutions. In terms of Kuwait's role in the Security Council, Qureshi said "I think they played a very balancing and a very mature role, especially during the recent standoff between India and Pakistan… and they helped deescalate and defuse tensions." With regard to his visit to Kuwait, the minister said "I am here in Kuwait to build a comprehensive economic relationship, because there are 105,000 Pakistanis who have contributed to the economic development of Kuwait and I feel that we can facilitate more, by sending skilled and semi-skilled manpower to Kuwait, for further economic development."

"One of the issues that I intend to talk about is how to enhance our economic relationship, the other was to exchange thoughts and get input from the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister on some of the evolving regional developments that are of mutual interests," he said. Qureshi met yesterday with Kuwait's Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah, and the two sides discussed issues of mutual interest, the Interior Ministry said in a statement yesterday.

Closer ties
Meanwhile, Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah held a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart and his accompanying delegation, during which they discussed the close relations between both friendly countries and ways of promoting and developing them in all fields. Both ministers also discussed a number of issues pertinent to bilateral coordination and ways of addressing various regional challenges, the latest regional and international developments and issues of mutual interest.
Present at the meeting were Deputy Foreign Minister Ambassador Khaled Al-Jarallah, Assistant Foreign Minister for the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister's Office Ambassador Sheikh Dr Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah, Assistant Foreign Minister for Asia Ambassador Ali Al-Said, Kuwaiti Ambassador to Pakistan Nasser Al-Mutairi and several other senior officials of the Foreign Ministry. Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled had held an iftar banquet on Saturday in honor of the Pakistani Foreign Minister and his accompanying delegation on the occasion of his official visit to the country. - KUNA