Kuwait Times

Published Date: November 26, 2009

SARAJEVO: His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Al-Sabah on Tuesday evening concluded an official visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, departing from Sarajevo International Airport for his next destination, the Serbian capital, Belgrade.

A number of senior Bosnian-Herzegovinian officials went to the airport to bid the Kuwaiti premier farewell, headed by member of the Bosnia Herzegovina Presidency Haris Silajdzic, Acting Premier Mladen Zirojevic and Foreign Minister Sven Alkalaj. During the Kuwaiti premier's official three-day visit to Sarajevo, the highest-level visit to date to the Bosnian capital, he met officials from the country's presidency, government, and parliament, as well as signing a number of cooperation agreements.

During his meetings with senior officials there, Sheikh Nasser relayed the greetings of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to Chairman of the Presidency Zeljko Komsic and delivered a letter concerning bilateral relations, cooperation, and means to bolster these in all fields.
The Kuwaiti delegation signed three important agreements dealing with loans to finance infrastructure projects, for cooperation between the two foreign ministries, cooperation in the fields of tourism, healthcare and air transport, and the formation of cooperation committees.

Among the Kuwaiti delegation's activities during the trip were a visit to a Sarajevo hospital for disabled children, a Kuwait mosque also in the capital, and the country's parliament building, where Sheikh Nasser met with House of Representatives Speaker Beriz Belkic, Deputy Speaker Niko Lozancic, and Deputy Speaker Milorad Zivkovic.

Among other issues, the senior officials discussed the formation of a Bosnian-Kuwaiti Friendship Committee, as well as means of strengthening bilateral ties and increasing the exchange of visit. They also agreed to open channels for regular communication and dialogue, with a Bosnian Embassy set to open in Kuwait within the next few months.

Meanwhile, the economic delegation accompanying the premier met with leading Bosnian-Herzegovinian businessmen at the trade chamber and at the federal headquarters, while representatives from Kuwaiti charity and humanitarian bodies visited cultural and educational facilities and met with senior Islamic authority officials.

The visit was paid a great deal of attention by the local media, with the activities of the premier and his accompanying delegation dominating the front pages of the local papers, while other media ran lengthy television and radio programs on the visit, bilateral relations, and Kuwaiti support, both moral and financial, for Bosnian causes. Bosnia and Herzegovina, a breakaway from the former Yugoslav Republic, has a majority Muslim population. - KUNA