By NNN-KUNA
Cairo : Kuwait is a pioneer when it comes to offering aid to poor countries and is considered one of the main states to support the development process in various countries, Secretary General of Kuwait’s Supreme Council for Planning and Development Adel Al-Wuqayyan said on Sunday.
Al-Wuqayyan told KUNA on the sidelines of the second preparatory meeting of the 2008 Development Cooperation Forum (DCF) of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) that these types of aid are considered “economic diplomacy”.
During this meeting, Kuwait will take a closer look at how its aid has affected the development process of the benefiting countries, he added.
Many countries believe that the economic aid aimed at boosting the development process in any country should be given without conditions. He said some countries view these terms as interference in the country’s policy and internal affairs.
The three session meeting addresses the future of conditionality, examples of successful South-South and triangular development cooperation, and the possibility of rethinking the current framework for assessing aid quality. Al-Wuqayyan is representing Kuwait in the two-day event which began here Saturday.
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit had addressed the opening session and said the meeting coincided with the efforts being made for the arrangements of the Doha conference slated for the end of 2008 to follow up the progress in the implementation of the Monterey Consensus on financing development.