Manama: Kuwait’s information minister will on Saturday make a historic visit to Ramallah in the West Bank.
Shaikh Salman Sabah Al Salem Al Humoud Al Sabah, who also holds the portfolio of youth affairs in Kuwait, will be the second high-ranking Kuwaiti official to visit Palestine since 1967.
On September 14, 2014, First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Shaikh Sabah Al Khalid Al Hamad Al Sabah made history by becoming the first senior official from Kuwait to visit Ramallah.
Shaikh Salman on Saturday will lead a Kuwaiti delegation participating in the 10th edition of the Palestinian International Book Fair, in which Kuwait has been chosen as "Guest of Honour”, Kuwait News Agency (Kuna) reported.
In a statement to the official news agency, the minister described relations between Kuwait and Palestine and their peoples as "firm", saying that the Palestinian invitation to Kuwait as "Guest of Honour" reflected the high esteem the Palestinians have for Kuwait and Kuwaitis.
Shaikh Salman said that he would during his visit to Ramallah meet Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and other senior Palestinian officials to discuss with them various areas of cooperation amid high expectations of closer ties and coordination in the future.
The minister added that Kuwait has backed the rights of the Palestinian people in multiple ways, mainly politically, economically culturally and through the media.
A vivid instance of the backing is the huge undertaking by the Ministry of Information to publish a compendium on the history and culture of the city of Al Quds (Jerusalem) prepared by Palestinian experts.
Shaikh Salman Kuwaiti-Palestinian cultural ties dated back to the mid-thirties when Kuwait invited the first group of Palestinian teachers to teach in Kuwaiti schools in 1936, right after the establishment of an education department in the country.
“In fact, two Palestinian teachers were given the duty to run the department from 1937 to 1940,” the minister said.
Three Palestinian female teachers were among the first women hired to teach at the first Kuwaiti elementary school for girls in the country in 1937, he added.
Numerous cultural activities conducted by Palestinians in Kuwait over the years have received substantial support from the Kuwaiti government, the minister said.
One such recent activity took place on October 26, 2014 at the Dasma Theatre and it was organised by Kuwait's National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL), to celebrate Palestinian Cultural Days in Kuwait, he said.
Regarding Kuwait's participation in the 10th Palestinian International Book Fair, the minister said there would be the NCCAL pavilion and the stand marking the celebration of Kuwait City as the capital of Islamic Culture for 2016 as well as an exhibition on Kuwaiti national heritage.
The Kuwaiti cultural week in Palestine, slated for May 8-12, will feature several Kuwaiti intellectuals, poets, and authors along with a display of Kuwaiti postage stamps organized in conjunction with the Kuwait Philatelic Society.
