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SUBSCRIPTION TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2017 SHABAN 13, 1438 AH www.kuwaittimes.net EPA: Harmful Things get ‘Stranger Things’, Cavaliers bacteria Messi for ‘Beauty’ big sweep past caused mass Iranian winners at Raptors fish deaths4 lookalike13 MTV38 awards into20 finals Turkey aims to boost GCC Min 27º Max 39º ties amid free trade talks High Tide 11:20 & 23:59 Low Tide Amir, Erdogan to lay cornerstone of new Kuwait airport 05:18 & 17:52 40 PAGES NO: 17222 150 FILS KUWAIT: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yester- day said he aimed to boost economic and military ties with Arab Gulf states, as talks on a free trade zone deal Sisi receives members of joint council pushed ahead. Erdogan, who is expected in Kuwait today, said Ankara was involved in “high level strategic dialogue” with the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), KUNA reported. Erdogan also confirmed that talks on a free trade zone between Turkey and the GCC were underway. During his visit, Erdogan and HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah are expected to lay the foun- dation stone of a $4.3-billion airport expansion project awarded to Turkish firm Limak Holding. The expansion will triple capacity to 25 million passengers over the next six years, and is the largest contract to date for a Turkish com- pany in Kuwait. Erdogan said Turkish firms were involved in projects worth a total $6.5 billion in the state. Trade volume between the two countries was $1.3 bil- lion last year, with Turkish exports representing $431 mil- lion, Erdogan said. Turkey’s trade volume with the GCC states - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE - is currently around $17 billion, up from $1.7 bil- lion in 1999. — AFP (See Page 3) Ghanem: Revoked citizenships will be returned soon By B Izzak KUWAIT: National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al- KUWAIT: Egyptian President Abdelfattah Al-Sisi (center) meets members of the joint Kuwait-Egypt Economic Cooperation Council yesterday, including (from left) Ghanem said yesterday that the citizenships that Nawaf Al-Enezi, Tariq Al-Sultan, Masoud Hayat, Awwad Al-Khaldi, Sheikha Al-Bahar, Bader Nasser Al-Kharafi, Shaima Al-Mulla and Salem Al-Othaina. — KUNA were revoked almost three years ago will be rein- KUWAIT: Egyptian President Abdelfattah Al-Sisi met countries through increasing investments and commer- many aspects. They also lauded the economic reform stated “very shortly”. Responding to criticism by Kuwaiti members of the joint Kuwait-Egypt Economic cial exchange to serve mutual interests. The president steps the Egyptian government has taken and its contri- Islamist opposition MP Mohammad Hayef over the Cooperation Council yesterday. The Egyptian presiden- spoke about the progress in economic reform and exe- bution to improving the business climate. They said they issue, Ghanem thanked HH the Amir and other law- cy’s official spokesman Alaa Yousuf said the president cuted national projects headed by the development are looking forward to the next meeting of the council, makers who worked on this goal. He however gave welcomed the Kuwaiti side of the joint council and laud- project in the Suez Canal region, that besides the steps especially since the meetings provide a good opportuni- no dates. Hayef complained in statements on ed the role the council has been playing since its estab- taken to provide an attractive atmosphere for invest- ty to discuss new cooperation projects in Egypt. Sunday that the issue had unnecessarily taken very lishment in Nov 2015 in supporting economic relations ments, the latest of which was the approval of a new Yousuf said the meeting discussed cooperation with long, especially after HH the Amir promised to order between the two countries. investment decision. Kuwait companies, and proposals and ideas by the to resolve the issue after meeting with a number of Sisi said Egypt is keen on continued contacts with Yousuf said Kuwaiti members of the council wel- Kuwaiti side were heard. The meeting was attended by lawmakers several weeks ago. But Ghanem blasted Kuwaiti investors to remove any obstacles they face. He comed the visit of the Egyptian president to Kuwait, and Bader Nasser Al-Kharafi, Sheikha Al-Bahar, Shaima Al- Hayef for his “unnecessary” criticism, saying he confirmed the importance of the private sector’s role in said they are keen on increasing their investments in Mulla, Salem Al-Othaina, Tariq Al-Sultan, Masoud Hayat, seems to be “creating trouble”. strengthening economic cooperation between the two Egypt in light of what they see are serious changes in Awwad Al-Khaldi and Nawaf Al-Enezi. Continued on Page 13 Macron faces challenges PARIS: Emmanuel Macron won warm many in Germany and across Europe,” backing from his European allies yesterday German Chancellor Angela Merkel told after his resounding victory in France’s reporters. Fervently pro-European Macron Marzouq: Deal presidential election but the focus at is hoping to re-energize the Franco- home shifted to whether he can govern German engine at the heart of the 28- the country without a traditional party. At member bloc, which is seen as critical now near to extend 39, the former investment banker will that Britain is set to leave. “We Germans become France’s youngest-ever president must now help him,” Foreign Minister oil output cut when he is inaugurated next weekend Sigmar Gabriel said. after crushing far-right leader Marine Le At his victory party outside the Louvre KUWAIT: Kuwait’s oil minister said yesterday he Pen on Sunday. Although the centrist on Sunday, the classical music lover believes that oil producers will extend their production politician faces a huge task ahead to unite walked on to the stage to the strains of cuts for another six months at their meeting later this a fractured and anxious country, his win “Ode to Joy”, the anthem of the EU, rather month. “There is almost consensus on the significance has been greeted with relief by EU leaders than France’s La Marseillaise. Final results of extending the (reduction) agreement for at least six and financial markets. showed Macron won a higher-than- more months,” Oil Minister Essam Al-Marzouq, who “Emmanuel Macron carries the hopes expected 66.1 percent of the vote against heads a committee overseeing compliance to the cuts, of millions of French people and also Continued on Page 13 said in a statement. With oil prices dropping back under $50 a barrel last week there has been renewed pressure on OPEC members and Russia whether they will extend their production cuts at a meeting in Vienna on May 25. Both Russia and Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil producers, both signalled yesterday their support for extending the production cut that aims to ease a glob- al supply glut. “Russia is in solidarity with the efforts of our partners to rebalance the market and considers that the joint initiative to stabilize the world oil market is currently effective,” energy minister Alexander Novak said, Russian news agencies reported. “We are dis- cussing different options and consider that an exten- sion for a longer period will help to speed up the return of the markets to a healthier condition.” At the same time Saudi Arabia’s energy minister Khalid Al-Falih also said in Kuala Lumpur that he was “rather confident the agreement will be extended into the second half of the year and possibly beyond”, Bloomberg reported. “The producer coalition is deter- mined to do whatever it takes to achieve our target of bringing stock levels back to the five-year average,” Falih was reported as saying. OPEC members agreed in November to cut produc- tion by 1.2 million barrels per day for six months begin- ning from the start of the year in a bid to reduce the glut of oil supplies on the shore up prices. The move was also partly matched by non-cartel producers led by Russia. The Kuwaiti minister said his country strongly backs PARIS: Outgoing French president Francois Hollande (right) and French president- efforts to extend the “historic” deal, adding that the fruits elect Emmanuel Macron talk as they walk during the ceremony yesterday marking of the cuts will appear in the coming few months with the 72nd anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany during WWII under the Arc the decline in world crude inventories. — AFP de Triomphe monument. — AFP (See Pages 10 & 14) LOCAL TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2017 KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah bids farewell to Egyptian President Abdelfattah Al-Sisi. Egyptian President Abdelfattah Al-Sisi meets with a number of Kuwaiti businessmen.—Amiri Diwan photos President Sisi leaves Kuwait KUWAIT: Egyptian President Abdelfattah Al- Sisi and his accompanying delegation left Kuwait yesterday, ending an official visit to the country. He was seen off at the airport by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al- Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al- Jaber Al-Sabah, National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem, Deputy Chief of the Kuwait National Guard Sheikh Meshal Al- Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah. Also seeing off the Egyptian leader at the airport were First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Sabah Al- Khaled Al-Hamad Al- Sabah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Anas Al-Saleh, and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs and Acting Minister of Information Sheikh Mohammad Al-Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, in addition to senior commanders of the army, police, National Guard and the Fire Service Directorate.