An Amiri order was issued on Tuesday appointing Air Vice Marshal Sheikh Sabah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah as Deputy Chief of Staff of the Kuwaiti Army.
HH the Amir Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah later received First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense and Interior Sheikh Fahad Al-Yousef Al-Sabah at Bayan Palace and was introduced to Vice Marshal Sheikh Sabah on his appointment to his new position, Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported.
In another development, Kuwait Foreign Minister Abdullah Al-Yahya emphasized last week Kuwait’s commitment to strengthening cooperation with NATO countries in all fields, especially in security.
This came in a statement to KUNA before Minister Abdullah Al-Yahya’s participation in the celebration of the 75th anniversary of NATO, held on the sidelines of the NATO summit hosted by Washington over three days.
Al-Yahya stated that Kuwait’s presence was a testament to Kuwait’s keenness to participate in the celebration of NATO’s founding, in response to an invitation from the US President, Joe Biden. He also praised the relations between Kuwait and NATO since Kuwait became the first member of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) in June 2004 and the bilateral cooperation in security and information exchange through Kuwait hosting the NATO-ICI Regional Center.
Al-Yahya said that Kuwait continues to enhance cooperation with NATO through the exchange of information, expertise, and joint training between NATO representatives and Kuwait security institutions. The Minister added that a celebration would be held during the visit of His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah to New York next September to mark the 29th anniversary of Kuwait acquiring the status of strategic ally outside NATO on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
The relations between Kuwait and NATO have witnessed continuous development and cooperation. In 2006, Kuwait hosted the NATO meeting under the title “NATO and Gulf Countries: Facing Common Challenges Through the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative” as the first non-member country to do so. In 2012, Kuwait proposed hosting and operating the ICI Regional Center in Kuwait during the NATO council meeting in Brussels, which was welcomed by the NATO summit in Chicago, US.
In 2014, Kuwait joined the individual partnership and cooperation program and subsequently hosted a meeting of NATO’s political advisory group in 2015 and 2018 and a NATO Council meeting for the 15th anniversary of the ICI in December 2019. In 2016, Kuwait and NATO signed the Military Transit Agreement, and in January 2017, the NATO-ICI Regional Center was inaugurated in Kuwait.
