Article from the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) website ... www.kuna.net.kw

POL-QATAR-BELGIUM-SEMINAR

   Kuwaitis have been practicing democracy for decades, rating women triumph - Sheikh Hamad    

   BRUSSELS, 26 (KUNA) - Qatari foreign minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jasem Al-Thani said Thursday that Kuwaitis have been practicing democracy for decades and granting women their political rights is a triumph for this democracy.

    Sheikh Hamad was speaking in a seminar on reform and democratization in the Arab world and the role of the European Union in this respect.

   The seminar was organized by the centre of studies and research on Arab and Mediterranean countries in cooperation with the Belgian royal institute of foreign relations as well as European institute for European and euro-Arab cooperation.

   The seminar which was chaired by the Belgian foreign minister Karel De Gucht was attended by a number of gulf and Arab heads of diplomatic missions in Brussels along with a number of Belgian officials, and university professors specialized in international relations.

   Sheikh Hamad said that Kuwait as well as Qatar started their political reforms progress years before the September 11 attacks and the sweeping calls for democratization after that.

   "Such democratic position, which we adopted before 11^th September, is not a complete adoption of a pre-determined world model and is not imposed by an outside factor. rather, it springs from our own belief that it constitutes a healthy and sound practice rooted in the Shura (consultation) principle, a basic principle in the teachings of Islam to which we adhere and are proud of its enlightened rules, values and principles," Sheikh Hamad said.

   He said that religious legacy does not oppose reform. "It is not against pursuit of revival and better life on the bases of good governance."

   He said that reform based on conscious self-will and considerate of society's distinctive characteristics does not mean sacrifice of principles and essential values reflecting the foundation of society's existence and identity.

   "It is quite known that the Arab world is flooded by proposals and initiatives to draw the future image on the basis of development and reform. it seems that such proposals and initiatives launched from the united states, European union and NATO have a common intellectual basis, namely that Arab countries suffer from reaction and backwardness, which requires reform in order to provide security at the international level as well for the US and EU," Sheikh Hamad noted. (end)

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