DHAKA: A senior Kuwait foreign ministry official has denied reports that his country would take the UN Security Council seat that Saudi Arabia has rejected.

‘The report that Kuwait would take the seat is not true,’ Khalid Al Jarallah, the ministry undersecretary, said on Thursday, reports gulfnews.com.

‘Kuwait, as we have stated on several occasions, is part of the efforts to convince Saudi Arabia to reverse its decision,’ he said, quoted by Kuwait News Agency.

Kuwait is well aware that Saudi Arabia, thanks to its constructive role and political weight, is capable, through its membership on the Security Council, of influencing the process of addressing issues, he added.

Reports on Wednesday, quoting non Saudi or Kuwaiti sources, said that Kuwait was ready to take the rotating seat and replace Saudi Arabia after the kingdom said that it would reject the two-year membership to protest the UN Security Council’s ‘inability to perform its duties in addressing Arab issues and ending the war in Syria’.

The Gulf Cooperation Council, an alliance that has brought together Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE since 1981 has backed Riyadh’s rejection of its seat on the UN Security Council to which it was elected.

BDST: 2049 HRS, NOV 07, 2013
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