Kuwait reaffirms continued support for development in Africa and strengthening international partnerships
Diplomatic Attaché Youssef Al-Mansour confirms Kuwait's support for development in Africa through the Kuwait Fund.
Translated by Qiyas from الجريدة — Original source
This came in the statement delivered by the State of Kuwait, presented by Diplomatic Attaché Yousef Al-Mansour on Monday evening before the United Nations General Assembly during its discussion of the agenda item on progress in implementing sustainable development in Africa, international support, causes of conflict, and the promotion of lasting peace on the continent.
Al-Mansour stated that the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda constitute two complementary frameworks for eradicating poverty, reducing inequalities, and enhancing the resilience of African communities. He emphasized that peace and development are interlinked and cannot be achieved in isolation from one another.
He noted that the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development’s activities have extended to approximately 96 percent of the continent through loans, grants, and development contributions covering infrastructure, energy, water, transport, and essential services.
He recalled the Arab-African Summit hosted by Kuwait in 2013, which saw the launch of several development initiatives, most notably the Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Sumait Prize for African Development, worth one million dollars annually, alongside the announcement of providing concessional loans to African countries totaling one billion dollars through the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, and an initiative to invest and guarantee an additional one billion dollars in investment in collaboration with international institutions.
He stressed the importance of addressing the development financing gap, the growing debt burden, and the economic repercussions of climate change and armed conflicts, while enhancing access to concessional financing and mobilizing long-term investments to support the development priorities of African countries.
He underscored the importance of strengthening cooperation between the African Union and the United Nations, and expanding Arab-African partnerships in the fields of renewable energy, food security, digital transformation, and education, while reaffirming African ownership and leadership over development priorities and programs, as well as youth capacity building.
