(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius praised strong ties and convergence of views with Kuwait after discussing bilateral relations and a number of regional issues with Kuwaiti First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah on Thursday.
"I was very happy to host my colleague and friend the Kuwaiti Minister for Foreign Affairs, and you know we have very good political relations with Kuwait," Fabius said after the meeting.
"We discussed bilateral relations (and) we want to boost the level of our economic relations, which we talked about during my visit (to Kuwait) in January," he said in comments to KUNA and Kuwait TV.
The French Foreign Minister noted that "on the cultural level, things were going well and there was a considerable field of cooperation." But he said France was eager to do more with Kuwait on the economic front and this would be a focus for talks in the months to come.
"We must do more together," Fabius said when asked by KUNA about specific targets for more cooperation.
Specifically, Fabius said that there was a desire to do more in several areas, notably "investments, transport, health, education and in many domains (like) energy.
"This was the purpose of my visit (to Kuwait) in January; here it is the purpose of our discussions... there will be a visit here by the (Kuwaiti) Prime Minister in October, but we are not going to wait until the end of the year. We are working every day," he told the Kuwaiti media after the meeting with Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled.
He indicated that the forthcoming visit by Prime Minister His Highness Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah in the autumn will address "in particular, economic files." The two officials also reviewed regional issues and Fabius said that "there is no shortage of concerns." Discussions broached Iraq, Syria, the Iranian nuclear question, Libya, Yemen and the stalled Middle East peace process.
"We particularly insisted on the peace process question between Israel and Palestine and we are totally in agreement on the idea that we must move forward because the current situation is potentially very dangerous," Fabius stated.
He said that "the Palestinians must have perspectives" within a two-State solution.
France has been pushing in the UN Security Council to get some form or movement on this volatile issue and get a resumption of peace talks within an international framework.
"I am very pleased that the analysis of our Kuwaiti friends and those of the French are totally convergent," he added.
Fabius said that on the Syrian conflict, "we have a convergent analysis" with Kuwait that the solution is political.
"The reasonable solution is to have a unification of the moderate opposition and at the same time get a political transition which would allow for a unity government, between certain elements of the regime - not Bashar Al-Assad - and the opposition," the Foreign Minister noted.
On Yemen, Fabius said France wanted a return to "legitimacy and stability" in that country and he welcomed the initiative by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to convene an important meeting in Saudi Arabia to try to end the conflict.
"In this direction, our friends have taken the initiative to propose a major meeting in Riyadh and a whole series of proposals which I hope will bring us back to legitimacy and stability (in Yemen)," Fabius commented.
"France, a permanent member of the UN Security Council is in support of the position of our friends" in the Coalition, he stated.
Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled is also in Paris to attend talks between the GCC and US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday, ahead of US-GCC summit talks in Camp David next week with President Barack Obama. (pickup previous) jk.hb
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