As part of its current role as rotating President

of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Kuwait hosted here over the weekend a

high-level meeting of GCC officials and members of the French Administration

to discuss issues of mutual concern and potential for increased cooperation,

officials indicated. Kuwaiti Ambassador to Paris, Ali Suleiman Said, met with GCC and French

Middle East and North Africa (MENA) department officials for an exchange of

views on the current situation and to explore ways that France, and indeed the

European Union, can increase their presence in the Gulf. Said told KUNA in an exclusive interview that the working lunch with the

GCC and French officials demonstrated that Kuwait "was working hard so that

there can be a stronger presence by the EU and France in the Gulf, and in

order that Europe can count on good relations with nations in the region."

The French participation in the exchange included Ambassador Patrice Paoli,

who is head of the MENA department at the French Foreign Ministry and a

veteran of Gulf affairs, having served as a diplomat in several countries

including Kuwait where he was French ambassador. French Foreign Ministry officials with responsibility for Kuwait, the UAE,

Oman, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain were also present. On the GCC side, all member countries were represented at high levels. "We discussed many issues," Said said in the interview, noting in

particular talks on bilateral GCC-EU trade and ways to bolster this. "We had a useful exchange of positions and we also discussed political

issues like the situation Yemen, the elections in Iraq, Iran and other

regional topics," the ambassador told KUNA. He noted that there are increasing numbers of high-level visits between GCC

countries and France and he said a number of senior government officials from

Paris have recently visited the Gulf. President Nicolas Sarkozy was in Saudi Arabia in November for his third

visit there in less than two years and he has also visited Kuwait in February

of 2009 as part of a three-nation tour that also took him to Oman and Bahrain. The French leader has additionally visited Qatar after he was elected and

has close ties with that country, and Qatari Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim Bin

Hamad Al-Thani was in Paris in early February for his second visit here, the

latest visit by a ranking Gulf official to France. The Kuwaiti official has been active in the past here in sponsoring closer

contacts between the GCC and France, even before the Kuwaiti presidency of the

Gulf organization.

This time, the context is broader in that the objective is to foster better

understanding and generate closer ties between the two important economic and

political blocs formed by the GCC and the EU.

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