Kuwait, Britain sign deals on 125 years of relations, cybersecurity

LONDON/KUWAIT: HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah returned to Kuwait on Wednesday after patronizing and attending the 70th anniversary celebration of the Kuwait Investment Office in London. The visit also came on an invitation from British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. HH the Crown Prince was seen off at the airport in London by Special Representative of the British Foreign Secretary Ambassador David Macleod, Kuwaiti Ambassador to the UK and Northern Ireland Bader Al-Awadhi, British Ambassador to Kuwait Belinda Lewis and several other Kuwaiti and British officials.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Kuwait and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) signed a memorandum of understanding on celebrating the 125th anniversary of Kuwait-UK partnership in 2024. The document was inked by Kuwait Deputy Foreign Minister Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and UK Minister of State in the Department for Business and Trade Lord Dominic Johnson at Lancaster House, west London, on Tuesday in the presence of Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

Kuwait and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland also signed on Tuesday a declaration of intent on establishing Kuwait National Center for Cybersecurity. The document was inked by head of the center Muhammad Buarki from the Kuwaiti side, and Juliet Wilcox, the Cyber Security Ambassador for UK Defense and Security Exports at the Department for International Trade. The declaration enables the British side to provide the necessary support to establish the center and provide it with the systems and capabilities needed by any country to protect itself from cyber threats, Wilcox said in statement to KUNA after the signing ceremony.

She explained the signing of the declaration is the fruit of work between the two sides that began in 2015. Kuwait was able during this period to develop its strategy and plans until it reached the issuance of the Amiri decree in 2022 to establish the National Center for Cybersecurity. “The establishment of the center means that Kuwait has a solid foundation for building the necessary cadres and capabilities, and therefore, we signed this declaration to ensure joint work to think about the future to reach the best ideas with partners in Kuwait,” Wilcox added.

Wilcox believes that the goal of enhancing cybersecurity is not limited to protecting the country from cyber threats but rather to developing awareness, skills, and professionalism in this field. She pointed out that the GCC countries are working hard to develop cybersecurity individually and collectively, adding that the United Kingdom supports these efforts, primarily supporting women’s participation in cybersecurity. Meanwhile, Kuwait Investment Office (KIO) marks 70 years of “unique” partnership with UK, reflecting the Kuwait leadership’s success in creating KIO to generate “huge returns to help the economy”, a senior British government official said.

“It is a huge celebration of our partnership with Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) over the past 70 years, which has been consistent, and unique,” Minister of State in the Department for Business and Trade Lord Dominic Johnson told KUNA in an interview to mark KIO’s 70th anniversary in London. “The leadership of Kuwait had so successfully created this fund, which generated huge returns to help the economy,” he added. Lord Dominic said he was “personally, very proud to have the chance to meet your Crown Prince” who he described as “wonderful, thoughtful leader”.

Dominic said he met with senior officials accompanying HH the Crown Prince including Deputy Premier, Minister of Oil and Acting Finance Minister Dr Saad Al-Barrak, Foreign Minister Sheikh Salem Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah and Managing Director of Kuwait Investment Authority Ghanem Al-Ghunaiman, and was “very proud to showcase the opportunities in the UK at the same time”. “What I admire about Kuwait Investment Office in the UK is that they take the opportunities, so when there’s a bit of volatility or turmoil in the turbulence in the markets, they use it,” he said, as the future lies ahead of mutual benefits.

“I think if I look at the future, what I’m optimistic about is the relationship we have is, developing from simply being a property play. I think if you go about 50 years or to the origination of the chaos activities in London, they tended to be focused more around physical property and then over the last few years you’ve seen a proliferation,” he said. “Investments into infrastructure is very interesting and going forward into science and technology and into clean energy,” said the senior official. Lord Dominic said the British government planned to level up in order to have prosperity across the UK, not solely in London but in the southeast regions, citing many opportunities in those areas.

Asked about investment in artificial intelligence with an AI summit due towards end of the year, Lord Dominic said the British government was keen on having input of all nations including Kuwait. “We have a number of companies that are looking to participate … we want people to come here. We want the best minds to come here. We want the best capital to come here to develop our opportunities and future working with countries like Kuwait” to invest in AI sector. Lord Dominic, on whether he believed AI was more rewarding than oil, said he would have thought it was “more scalable than oil.

And yet the fixed costs for development is probably about the same, but the opportunities I’m very optimistic about AI.” Dominic said people focused on negatives of AI “whereas I think the opportunities for changing our life for the better, for better allocating resources for freeing people up from work that will allow them to do other things. I think it’s just amazing,” he said, adding as long as its use was safe and monitored. Lord Dominic said Britain and Kuwait are celebrating 125 years of specific relationship, with more than 9,000 Kuwaitis studying in UK. – KUNA

The post Kuwait, Britain sign deals on 125 years of relations, cybersecurity appeared first on Kuwait Times.