Kuwait, Luxembourg discuss ways to expand cooperation

A group of Kuwaiti MPS visited here Tuesday the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce and exchanged views with the general manager of the Chamber, Pierre Gramegna, on trade, financial and logistical cooperation between the two sides. The Kuwaiti parliamentarians were also briefed on the activities and the way the Chamber functions. Speaking to the Kuwait news agency, KUNA, MP Khalid Sultan Bin Eissa said that Tuesday was the second day of the visit of the six-member Kuwaiti parliamentary delegation to Luxembourg. "We learnt a lot about the rules governing the chamber and about its activities to promote the commercial and trade activities of its members. We had a very useful meeting," he said. Bin Eissa, however, noted that trade between Kuwait and Luxembourg was limited and must be improved and increased. "I think Kuwait can benefit form Luxembourgs strategic position as an international financial and banking centre and as a member of the European Union," he said. Bin Eissa said they also explained to the Luxembourg Chamber the possibilities available to expand their activities in Kuwait and to strengthen their ties with Kuwait and to participate in the development projects underway in our country. He stressed that Luxembourg is very focussed on the logistics sector and said that "we have now the Mubarak port and a base will be built at Kuwait airport for cargo of about three million tonnes." He said a logistics base should be built so that Kuwait becomes an important international financial and trade centre. On his part, Gramegna told KUNA that they "had a cordial exchange of views on both our economies and we focussed on the fields where we can cooperate together." He stressed that Kuwait and Luxembourg can boost cooperation in the financial services as Luxembourg is an international financial centre and is also oriented towards the Middle East. There are already a number of investors from the Middle East operating in Luxembourg, he said, noting that Luxembourg is the first place for investment funds in the world after the US. The second sector where the two countries can cooperate is logistics. The Luxembourg air freight company CargoLux is already connecting Kuwait to Luxembourg twice a week, said Gramegna. "I heard today that our large investments are being done in a port in Kuwait and a cargo airport in Kuwait which is in the making, and is going to be finished in couple of years and we have decided to look into the possibilities of Luxembourg operators to use those facilities in order to make sure that logistical cooperation between our two countries become even larger, " he stressed. Gramegna said that the trade minister of Luxembourg visited Kuwait in 2008 and it is now the turn of the Kuwaiti counterpart to visit Luxembourg. "We have to receive business people from Kuwait and vice versa to develop partnerships in terms of goods and services," he added. A six-member delegation from the Kuwaiti parliament led by Mubarak Al-Kherainej who is the president of the Kuwait-Luxembourg inter-parliamentary friendship group is visiting Luxembourg this week to expand economic, financial and trade links between the two countries. The delegation includes MPs Dr.Dhaifalla Abu Ramia, Saad al-Azemi, al-Saifi al-Ajmi and Khalaf al-Anezi.