Writing greetings to you for our Wednesday newsletters has become one of my joys.

I would like to share some thoughts about my visit to Kuwait on October 15-17, earlier this month. During my stay, the Asia Cooperation Dialogue was held. Nabil Al-Arabi, Secretary General of the Arab League, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Emir of Qatar, King Hamad bin Isa Al-Kalifa of Bahrain, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and top officials and high-level government officials from over 32 nations attended this meeting. As this meeting was held for the first time in a Gulf country as a 2-day summit conference, tight security prevailed with many roads closed off. Interestingly, I did not witness any one complaining about such circumstances. Out of curiosity, I asked about the absence of complaints and was told, “On such a happy occasion for our nation, we should be able to endure this amount of inconvenience.”

As I was leaving for Korea, I read the headline, “Amir Proposes $2 billion Fund to Fight Poverty in Asia,” in the Kuwait Times, followed by HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah’s commitment to donate $300 million to the proposed fund.

Also, on October 22, China’s Xinhua News Agency and other media sources reported oppositional strikes to electoral reforms in Kuwait. Many different incidents occurred over the past week in this small, rich country of the Gulf region.

We have not been well informed about news in Kuwait and I am ashamed to think we might continue to go on in such ignorance. If we open our minds and try to understand what has been happening in the Middle East and the Arab world, whether it be politics, the economy, culture or religion, I believe it can bring us closer to finding solutions to many of the problems humanity is facing such as war and conflict.

I truly hope for the success of the Kuwait government’s proposed project to fight poverty in Asia.

Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, Minister of Information, stated on October 16, “If journalists and reporters are determined to work to realize their ideals, politicians will definitely follow in their footsteps.” The minister and I exchanged Kuwait made Marlboro cigarettes and Korean made Arirang cigarettes as we conversed. It made us realize how much one could share even over a single cigarette.

October 24, 2012

Sincerely
Lee Sang-ki, CEO & Publisher of the AsiaN

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