Good afternoon, distinguished guests. Sheikh Dr. Ahmed Nasser Al-Mohammed As-Sabah, it is our pleasure to host you here today for this signing ceremony.
I am honored to sign this Memorandum of Understanding between the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development and USAID.
The Kuwait Fund and USAID both have a long history in development. Although our agencies are on nearly opposite sides of the world, both were founded within a month of each other in 1961. As the Arab world’s first-ever development agency, the Kuwait Fund is a natural partner for USAID as we work to engage effectively in the region.
This agreement offers an excellent opportunity to expand our development cooperation into new areas, with a focus on assistance for energy, education, health, and vulnerable populations. We hope that, together, we will make progress on some of the most intractable problems facing the Middle East and broader world today.
The Kuwait Fund has been a leader in development across the region: building schools in Baghdad, expanding electrical grids in Mauritania, and financing desalination and water drainage systems in Egypt. Among its many accomplishments, the Fund has equipped regional hospitals in Tunisia and built up transportation infrastructure in more than a half-dozen countries.
This new international partnership will both strengthen our dedication to shared principles, and expand our ability to improve lives in our increasingly interconnected world.
Thank you, Sheikh As-Sabah and our distinguished guests, for being here today. We are pleased to sign this MOU, and we look forward to future discussions to identify areas for collaboration.