Britain and Kuwait have signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on combating cybercrime, sharing expertise on international security and counter-terrorism.
Britain's Security Minister Pauline Neville-Jones said in a Home Office statement about the MoU, "Britain is eager to share skills and technological expertise with her friends in the (Persian) Gulf, and I look forward to a close partnership in a common endeavor with the government of Kuwait," the Global Arab Network reported Tuesday.
Kuwait's Minister of Interior Lt. Gen. (ret.) Sheik Jaber Khalid Jaber Al-Sabah, at the head of a high-profile security delegation including Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior for Criminal Security Lt. Gen. Ghazi Al-Omar and a number of the ministry's top officials, signed the MoU with Neville-Jones.
After the signing ceremony Al-Sabah told journalists that his government was interested in deepening joint cooperation with Britain, stating that, "we are facing a hidden foe as we seek to take advantage of British technology and technical capabilities necessary for fighting such threats. What is seen on the global and regional scenes of accelerating events in which the methods of organized crime and the perils of international terrorism are aggravating as well as the ensuing crimes of kidnapping, hostage-taking and human trafficking require all of us to stand firm in the face of such crimes."
Al-Sabah also lauded the countries' historic close ties, paying tribute to the prominent role of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in Kuwait's liberation from Iraqi aggression during 1991's Operation Desert Storm.
Envisaging the British-Kuwaiti agreement as a possible foundation for broader British cooperation with other gulf states, Neville-Jones stressed British interest in "consolidating such close cooperation with the State of Kuwait and our other friends in the gulf region," adding that "we are now facing a different threat that needs joint efforts to help each other in sorting out such kinds of threats. The MoU will ensure close co-operation between the two countries in vitally important areas such as counter terrorism and international organized crime."
Both governments anticipate under the terms of the MoU that there will be increased collaboration on combating human trafficking and drug smuggling as well.
As to how the MoU will work in practice, a Cabinet Office source speaking on condition of anonymity commented, "All that's being published with Kuwait is a framework so the details will be forthcoming in the future."
There have been issues between the gulf states and their Western colleagues in the past, most notably after the 9/11 terror attacks, when gulf financial institutions proved reluctant to provide details of gulf-based hawala transactions, which many Western governments suspected were used to launder terrorist funds.
More recently, gulf nations have cited national security concerns of technology such as the double encryption used for BlackBerry cellphones, which stymie governmental efforts to monitor communications. Kuwait is reportedly discussing their concerns with BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion.
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