Text of speech:
H.E. Khaled Al Duwaisan GCVO
Ambassador of the State of Kuwait
Dean of the Diplomatic Corps
Conservative Party Conference
Monday 28/ February/ 2011
Your Excellencies, My Lords, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen
Firstly I would like to thank the Conservative Foreign and Commonwealth Council for giving me the opportunity to be here this evening, to speak about a subject all of you know is very dear to my heart; and that is the historic relations between the State of Kuwait and the United and Kingdom …
These relations go back to more than 200 years… however they have been crowned with the signing of 1899 agreement between the two countries…
This Agreement was the first stage of advanced, well rooted and sophisticated bilateral relations between the two countries…It agreed on protecting the State of Kuwait against any external threats at that time, the Ottoman Empire, Germany and Russia, in exchange for consultation on foreign policy… and no intervention in Kuwait’s domestic Policy…
This Agreement was valid until 1961… when Kuwait decided to replace the Protection Agreement with a Memorandum of Understanding… which lasted until 1967
… Few days ago, Kuwait has celebrated 50 years of independence…
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Allow me to shed some light on the stages of these relations…
…in 1961, and after we had achieved our independence…
Abdulkarim Kassem threatened to attack Kuwait… Britain was the first country to send its troops to the borders to protect Kuwait…
… In 1990… When Saddam Hussein and his army invaded Kuwait… Britain was again among the first countries to condemn the attack… Kuwaitis never forget the distinguished role of Mrs. Margaret Thatcher when she insisted on an unconditional withdrawal of the Iraqi forces from Kuwait…which was achieved when Britain and the coalition joined forces to expel the Iraqi troops out of my country…
And here we are today, celebrating 50 years of independence… and 20 years of liberation… our British friends have been there to celebrate these anniversaries with us… The British Prime Minister David Cameron was in Kuwait last Tuesday… Sir John Major, who was Prime Minister during the liberation war, Tony Blair, Lord Tom King and General Peter de la Billière who was the commander of the British Forces during the Liberation war… and many others
We thank our British friends for everything.
Ladies and gentlemen
I am aware that you could be shocked and perhaps appalled by the latest development across the Middle East
… Allow me to give you my personal insight… Revolutions in the Middle East region began in the fifties of the past decade…these regimes promised their nations a better life after having overthrown their previous dictator regime… However, they did not fulfill their promises… now there are young men and women across the Arab world, who were born under these regimes, and yet cannot find work, they are living below standards and they are deprived of their rights, “the freedom of speech and expression”…
… It is noted that complaints were first raised by those countries that have had successful revolutions in the fifties…
The Arab world is facing a huge problem in the future, as the United Nations already acknowledges… that the Arab World needs to find 100 million jobs in the next 10 years and Arab countries need to combine their efforts together in order to find a solution for this dilemma in the future
… They also need to have political reforms for this purpose,
… However, in Kuwait, we are far from this turmoil for many reasons
1- There are no differences between the ruling system and the people… The ruler always checks on the nation to solve their problems… The biggest proof was when the Kuwaiti people stood by their rulers when Iraq invaded Kuwait and occupied it… and they ultimately refused any other ruler but their own Amir.
2- The Kuwaiti government… and since the discovery of oil… has focused on the welfare of its people… it also focused on maintaining education, health and infrastructure… It offered free education on all levels; it also offered free health system… The government also managed to establish housing aids by finding the applicants cheap, interest free loans… and creating work opportunities.
…and most importantly… There is a constitution in Kuwait which was established in 1962 which sets out the distribution of powers in Kuwait; has Executive Power… Legislative Power… Judicial Power… it also has a National Assembly, elected by the people… with four women enjoying seats.
Before I come to the end of my speech… I would like to draw the attention of the audience to a crucial issue that is achieving peace in the Middle East… in order to allow governments to devote themselves for the service of their nations instead of engaging in hostilities and wars… All the Arab States have agreed on an initiative in 2002 which includes the recognition of Israel… and the normalization of Diplomatic relations… in exchange for a complete Israeli withdrawal from the territories it occupied after 1967.
We call upon our friendly countries to fulfill their duties on putting pressure on Israel to accept this initiative… so that this region could eventually live in peace where security prevails… The alternative would be terrorism and extremism… which will have a negative impact on security and stability, not only in the Middle East, but on world as a whole…
Thank you again for giving me this great opportunity to speak to you openly and transparently.