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WHO IS KUWAIT LIAISON OFFICER IN ESWATINI?

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MBABANE – Does the Government of Kuwait now have representation locally?


The questions came up after those who often travel to Kuwait were informed that the previous arrangement, where they would access visas upon arrival in that country had been stopped.
They now have to get the country visa from Kuwait Embassy office in Pretoria, South Africa to first secure a visa before they could travel.


Kuwait is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf. It shares borders with Iraq and Saudi Arabia.


Travellers


The concerned travellers wondered why they had to travel to South Africa as they had seen a flag of Kuwait, raised together with those of the Governments of Indonesia and India, where Consul Kareem Ashraf and his wife, Mona, are representatives of those countries respectively.


Also at the entrance to the consular’s offices is an inscription that reads; “Liaison Officer of the Embassy of the State of Kuwait.     
However, it could not be immediately ascertained who the liaison officer is.
The offices are situated at the Industrial Sites, Mbabane, along Sheffield Road.


Consular Ashraf requested that all questions be directed Protocol Officer, indentified as Mr Zeeman, who, however, did not respond to calls yesterday.
Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Chief Mgwagwa Gamedze explained that Kuwait had an ambassador who was based in Pretoria, South Africa.


The minister, when asked if there was a local office representing interests of the Government of Kuwait locally, said as government, they had not received any correspondence from their Kuwait counterparts.


He said the only people who could inform them in this regard, was the Government of Kuwait.
“And that government is yet to write to inform us, not the embassy in South Africa. In the truest sense, we are waiting for the Government of Kuwait. In short, it is the government of Kuwait that will give us direction.”


Explaining the diplomatic processes, he said all correspondences from Eswatini to Kuwait or any other foreign country should go through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This also applied to any correspondence coming into the country, the minister added.
“Let me make an example, if we want to send information, we send it to our embassy. An embassy does not generate correspondence on behalf of the governments. The role of the embassy is to forward government’s correspondence,” he illustrated.
Communicated
Gamedze was quick to note that they did not have any objection to people representing their various countries, but the names should be communicated through their respective governments.
 “In short, in this case, we are waiting for information from the Government of Kuwait. The name was submitted to us, we cannot deny that. We asked that the Government of Kuwait put that in writing – informing us officially so that we can work that matter diplomatically.”
He alluded that there was written communication but it was from the embassy, and not the Government of Kuwait.
An official from the embassy, who identified himself as Niaz, requested that all questions should be directed to the Government of Eswatini.
“We gave your government all the responses of your questions,” Niaz, politely said, referring to a questionnaire that had been sent to the embassy.
The publication had wanted to know what brought about the sudden change in obtaining a visa and who represented its interests in the country as there was a liaison officer.
Visa
Explaining the changes in the visa process, Principal Secretary Joel Nhleko confirmed that emaSwati were now expected to apply for a visa in South Africa before flying to Kuwait.
Nhleko explained that the Government of Kuwait communicated in August last year to officially state that it was faced with some technicalities regarding security.
“You may be aware that in that region, there is something which is not okay. There is an ongoing battle between Syria and Yemen – so it was seen that for security concern, they requested to withdraw getting visa on arrival in that country.”
He noted that this did not specifically apply to Eswatini but other countries that have bilateral relations with Kuwait were also expected to undergo the same exercise.
Information sourced from Wikipedia revealed that as of 2016, Kuwait had a population of 4.2 million people; 1.3 million are Kuwaitis and 2.9 million are expatriates. Expatriates account for 70 per cent of the population.

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