By NNN-KUNA
United Nations : Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr. Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah and his accompanying delegation left New York late Saturday following a week-long diplomatic marathon on the margins of the UN General Assembly’s 62nd session.
Sheikh Mohammad led the Kuwaiti delegation last Saturday in the high-level meeting of the International Compact for Iraq which was co-chaired by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki.
He delivered his speech to the assembly last Thursday.
He also met twice during the week with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, once in a bilateral meeting and later along with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) plus two; Egypt and Jordan.
He also represented Kuwait’s Prime Minister, His Highness Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, at the third annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI).
Sheikh Mohammad also attended the annual ministerial meeting of the GCC and that of the Arab states.
He also held bilateral meetings with the foreign ministers of Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Lebanon, and Tunisia.
He further met with the UN Special Advisor on the International Compact with Iraq Ibrahim Gambari, the current Special Representative for Iraq Ashraf Qazi, and his successor Staffan de Mistura.
He also met with the Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu.
Sheikh Mohammad also discussed bilateral relations with the President of the Union of the Comoros Ahamed Abdallah Mohammed Sambi, and some 14 other foreign ministers, including those of South Korea, Iceland, Uzbekistan, Cyprus, Belarus, and Congo.
Curious young UN staff members hurried to take photos of Sheikh Mohammad as he walked proudly in his deshdasha (Kuwaiti national dress) from a meeting to the other in the UN building.
They told KUNA that with the exception of Sheikh Mohammad and the President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai, every other high-level official was clad in western clothes and “that’s a shame. It doesn’t look like it is the UN with its wide diversity.”
Sheikh Mohammad left New York with his wife Sheikha Feryal, Director of the Minister’s Office Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Al-Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah, and First Secretary in his Office Khalifa Al-Kharafi.
They were seen off at the airport by Kuwait’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Abdullah Al-Murad and the Kuwaiti diplomats accredited to the UN.