KUWAIT CITY, 7 May 2006 — Germany’s Minister of Economics and Technology Michael Glos said yesterday that he hoped to strengthen economic ties with Kuwait, pointing to energy as an industry where further cooperation was possible. Glos arrived in Kuwait Friday at the head of a high-level industrial delegation on the first stop of a three-day regional visit that will also take him to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He held talks yesterday with Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah, and Minister of Commerce and Industry Yousef Al-Zalzalah on improving economic and business ties between the two countries.
Speaking yesterday to a business forum at Kuwait’s Chamber of Commerce, Glos said Germany welcomed the liberalization of market policies in the emirate, especially a foreign investment law approved by parliament three years ago. Noting Kuwait’s recent discovery of large deposits of natural gas in its northern fields, Glos said Germany, a world leader in planning building refineries, were particularly keen on getting involved in energy projects.
The 80-member German delegation traveling with Glos included top German industrialists Hartmut Mehdorn, head of the German railway company Deutsche Bahn AG and Matthias Mitscherlich, chief of construction group MAN Ferrostaal.
“Kuwait is not looking for money, there is enough money in the county, but it’s a question of ideas, of partnerships, and long-term friendship,” MAN’s Mitscherlich told the forum, adding that Kuwaitis “rely heavily on personal relationships” when doing business.
