(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Kuwait Minister of Oil and Minister of State for National Assembly Affairs Dr. Ali Saleh Al Omair, wrapped up Saturday his first visit to the Netherlands.
During his three-day stay in the European country he had an hectic programme of meetings with two Dutch ministers and visits to the Kuwait refinery in Rotterdam, the European headquarters of the Kuwait Petroleum International, KPI, in the Hague and a petrol station also in the Hague.
Observers in the Hague note that Al Omair's visit was highly successful and fruitful in further strengthening Dutch-Kuwaiti cooperation in the oil and economic sectors.
He began his programme on Thursday morning by visiting the huge KPI refinery site, Europoort, at Rotterdam where he met the management and inspected the research and technology centre, the control centre and other installations where he was briefed on the functions of the various centres.
Al Omair thanked all the workers at the refinery for their devotion and encouraged them to continue their hard work for Kuwait.
Speaking to the Kuwait news agency, KUNA, the minister underlined the importance of his first visit to Netherlands and his happiness about visiting the refinery.
"We are following one of the major investment for Kuwait in Europe which is in Rotterdam refinery and hopefully we can succeed in resolving all the problems facing our investments," he said.
The minister was accompanied by Kuwait's ambassador to the Netherlands, Hafeedh Al Ajmi, Nizar Aladsani, head of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, Bakheet Al Rashidi, head of KPI, Khaled Al Mushaileh, vice president for strategy and finance and acting vice president KPI Europe, and Adnan Al Qallaf Group manager-stakeholder management KPI.
They also visited the Tango petrol station at the Hague run by the KPI which has 163 Tango (self tank and go) petrol stations in the Netherlands.
Azzam Al Mutawwa, managing director for North West Europe at KPI, welcomed the minister and his accompanying delegation at the Tango station which was opened in August 2006.
Al Omair praised the efforts of the workers in running the Tango stations and encouraged them to work on a strategic plan to bring them on a higher level.
On Thursday afternoon Al Omair visited the Kuwait Petroleum international (Q8) European headquarters in the Hague and met the management and the Kuwait staff members working there and also those who work in Q8 office in neighbouring Belgium.
The management briefed the minister about the important investments in Europe in general and in the Netherlands in particular as well as about the petroleum projects between the KPI and Dutch companies in Kuwait and elsewhere.
The oil minister heard a presentation on the training programme for the Kuwaiti staffers.
He praised the Kuwaiti staffers for their hard work abroad and encouraged them for productivity in the work and to concentrate on achieving growth and profit for the KPI and to set an example for the Kuwaiti workers abroad.
On Thursday evening, ambassador Al Ajmi hosted a dinner in honour of the visiting Kuwaiti oil minister and the accompanying delegation at his residence.
Speaking to KUNA after the dinner, Al Ajmi said the first visit of the new Kuwaiti oil minister to the Netherlands was at an invitation by the Dutch government.
His visit comes a month after the visit of First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah to the Hague to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
"These meetings will strengthen our ties further and we expect in the near future that Dutch-Kuwait ties will take a leap in cooperation in various sectors including oil and trade," stressed Al Ajmi.
On Friday morning Al Omair met the Dutch minister of economic affairs Henk Kamp in the Hague and discussed bilateral investments.
"We are very honoured by the visit of His Excellency to the Netherlands. Kuwait is a very important partner for the Netherlands. Kuwait is active in the Netherlands for decades since 1983," Kamp told KUNA after the breakfast meeting.
"Kuwait is a very stable partner. Kuwait is always thinking of the future, on the long term and that makes it so interesting to have good relations with your country," said the Dutch minister.
On his part, Al Omair said he was happy to meet the Dutch economy minister and thanked him for the warm welcome.
They discussed Kuwait's investments in the Netherlands and in particular in the refinery in Rotterdam port, he said.
"We look forward to more and better investments in Europe," Al Omair said and added that he has invited Kamp to visit Kuwait in September "and we hope to build a stronger ties for better investments and profits for Kuwait."
Al Omair explained that it is natural to revaluate from time to time some of these investments to guarantee the continued gains in the tough competition in the world markets.
The two sides discussed the activities of the KPI in the Netherlands and the challenges it faces in the Dutch market during the current difficult economic conditions which Europe is facing and in particular the refining industries.
On Friday afternoon Al Omair met Dutch foreign minister Frans Timmermans and discussed bilateral cooperation in the economic and oil sectors as well as regional developments.
Meanwhile, the President of Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI) Bakheet Al Rashidi said the visit of Al Omair to the Netherlands "went very well."
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