KUWAIT CITY, 5 July 2004 — Kuwait’s Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah embarked yesterday on a two-week key economic mission to four Southeast Asian nations, the official KUNA news agency reported. The premier will lead a high-powered official and business delegation to China, Japan, South Korea and Singapore, where he is expected to discuss boosting the oil-rich emirate’s business ties with the Asian economic powers. As well as the official delegation, which includes the energy and finance ministers and top executives from the state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC), the mission includes a large number of Kuwaiti businessmen and investors. Almost 60 percent of Kuwait’s oil sales of more than two million barrels a day is exported to Asian markets, with Japan topping the list at more than 300,000 barrels, analysts said.