Powell met with Kuwaiti officials September 15

Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States was moving to designate Kuwait as one of its non-NATO major allies, and begin discussions with the Kuwaiti government that would lead to a free trade agreement between the two countries.

Powell spoke September 15 in Kuwait City with Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr. Mohammed Al-Sabah.

The secretary said that during recent meetings with Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Hamad Al-Sabah he discussed Kuwaiti detainees as well as the fate of the country's citizens that remain unaccounted for following the 1991 Gulf War. "[W]e are very sensitive to this issue and want to do everything that we can," he said.

Following is a transcript of Secretary Powell's remarks with Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr. Mohammed Al-Sabah:

(begin transcript)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
September 17, 2003

Remarks by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and
Kuwait Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr. Mohammed Al-Sabah
After Meeting

September 15, 2003
Bayan Palace
Kuwait City, Kuwait

FOREIGN MINISTER AL-SABAH: (As translated from Arabic) I would like to take this opportunity to welcome our dear friend Secretary of State Colin Powell. I've known him for thirteen years, and he's been a very close friend of Kuwait. Secretary Powell has always been a fighter. He spent his career fighting for freedom and for peace and today he continues to fight for security and stability throughout the world. I would like to welcome you once again, Mr. Secretary, as a friend of Kuwait, the Gulf States and the entire Arab world. You are most welcome here.

SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you very much, Mr. Minister, for your warm welcome. It's a pleasure for me to be back in Kuwait. For the last two days I have been in Iraq with Ambassador Bremer and military commanders reviewing the situation, and I was anxious to come to Kuwait to share what I learned with my colleague and old friend. But more importantly, to also express my sincere thanks to the Minister and through him, the leadership of this nation, as well as all of the citizens of this nation, for the support they have provided to our efforts to liberate Iraq. Kuwait is a dear friend of the United States. We have been tested in time of war and time of peace and I wanted to assure the Minister and all citizens of Kuwait that the United States is deeply appreciative of all Kuwait has done, especially for making our young men and women feel welcome and at home here in Kuwait. So, Mr. Minister, thank you very much for receiving me this evening.

QUESTION: Nasir Al-Mutairi from Kuwait TV, Your Excellency, what's your opinion about the outcome of His Highness the Kuwaiti Prime Minister's visit to the United States and the United Nations now?

SECRETARY POWELL: The Prime Minister had a most successful meeting in the United States. He had very good discussions with President Bush, and I was present at those discussions, and I also was able to have an additional session with the Prime Minster. We covered all of the issues that exist between our two countries, pleased to advise the Prime Minister that we will be moving toward designation of Kuwait as a non-NATO major ally, and begin discussions with respect to trade a agreement that will lead to a free trade agreement. The beginning is something called (inaudible) which is an understanding on certain economic and trade principles as you move down the road towards a free trade agreement.

The Prime Minister, as always, was candid in his comments and discussions. We talked about the issue of the Kuwaiti detainees and we are very sensitive to this issue and want to do everything that we can. And the Prime Minister also discussed with the President concerns about those Kuwaitis who are still unaccounted for in Iraq and our commitment to work on this and to do everything we can until every person has been accounted for and every family has been brought peace by the knowledge of what happened. So, it was an excellent visit and I can also report that from what I've heard, all of his meetings with members of our Congress went extremely well, also.

QUESTION: Reem Al-Mai from Al-Rai Al Aam newspaper. I would like to ask you about the Syria accountability act. It's being debated tomorrow about the Congress. Does that indicate a new escalation for relation between Washington and Damascus and if the Congress passes this act, what would be the consequences there and is it true that the Syrian officials have secretly asked the U.S. Administration to revise the Damascus/Washington back channels in order to solve all the outstanding matters through the guidance of the declared position of the two countries?

SECRETARY POWELL: We have very open and direct communications with the Syrian leadership and I have been there, three times to Damascus, three times since I became Secretary of State. Assistant Secretary Burns, who is here with me this evening, has been there many times and we've had others who've gone to Syria, as well as an outstanding Ambassador who only recently left. And so Syria knows our views.

When I visited Syria a few months ago, I made it clear to them what we were expecting: an end to the support of terrorist activities, and they should eject those individuals in Damascus who are connected to terrorist organizations. An end to the development of weapons of mass destruction, an end to the use of Syrian air space or land space for the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah. And I made it clear to Syria that if they wanted to have good relations with the United States and good relations with a liberated Iraq they should do everything they could to make sure that the wrong sorts of people are not crossing the border to cause trouble in Iraq, as well as help us with the financial records in any bank accounts that might be held by the former regime in Syrian banks.

I also said to the President of Syria that the American Congress was deeply concerned about their actions and if there was not some cooperation shown soon that the Congress will take up legislation, such as the Syrian Accountability Act, which would make it more difficult for us to pursue a course to a better relationship with Syria. But, so far, the Syrian leadership has not responded as forcefully, as thoroughly, as I would've liked and thus our Congress is debating the Act tomorrow.

QUESTION: Haytham Haddadin, Reuters News Agency. How will the U.S. deal with the infiltrators going into Iraq and also can you give us your assessment of the situation on the ground there? There was a recent poll that showed that eighty-five percent of the American people think or fear that this could be a lengthy campaign for the United States in Iraq?

SECRETARY POWELL: It's a campaign that will take time. I don't know how long it will take but we're going to stick with it. In some parts of the country the security situation is good; it's quite stable. There are still remnants of the former regime that are there, but nevertheless the security situation is stable, and in talking with many of our commanders up in the northern part of the country, they're confident they'll be able to handle these remnants of the regime. The problem remains, for the most part, in the triangle around Baghdad and we are going after them, we will find them and we will defeat these remnants of the former regime. We are concerned about terrorists that are moving to the region and I think that was the reference of your first question. We are concerned about these terrorists. How do we deal with them? We will use all the assets available to us, intelligence assets and other assets, to find them, to locate them and to destroy them. We will not let terrorism deny the Iraqi people the benefit of having a free and democratic nation.

Thank you.

(end transcript)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)