Speaker welcomes Kuwait Ambassador to first physical meeting

The Speaker of the House of Commons held his first face-to-face diplomatic meeting since the pandemic began with the longest-serving ambassador to the UK.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle welcomed Khaled Al-Duwaisan, Ambassador to the State of Kuwait, to Parliament on the day lockdown measures eased in England.

The Speaker said he was very pleased that his first physical ambassadorial guest was Mr Al-Duwaisan, who is also Dean of the Diplomatic Corps to the UK, for his 27 years’ continuous service in London.

Sir Lindsay aims to meet all 186 members of the diplomatic service as part of his mission to establish enduring ties between countries and parliamentarians. Until recently, all meetings have had to take place virtually.

"I want this House of Commons to be more outward facing, more welcoming and to use its soft power to build better relations across the world," he told Mr Al-Duwaisan.

"This starts from the moment you enter Parliament, with the flying of the flag of Kuwait, in between our Union flags."

Mr Al-Duwaisan said Kuwait had no better friend than the UK, after it deployed more than 50,000 troops to the small oil-rich emirate in 1990 when it was invaded by Iraq.

"We have long standing relations and Britain is our closest friend," he said.

Kuwait, which has a population of 4.5m people and is nestled between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, celebrates the 60^th anniversary of its independence from the UK, and 30 years since its liberation following the Iraqi invasion.

Mr Al-Duwaisan said the pandemic had scaled down Kuwait’s plans to mark its independence to the production of a booklet or magazine, which will note how far it has come.