BERBERA — President Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo embarked on his first trip to the Gulf on Thursday morning to seek investment and greater ties with the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.
During the week-long tour, the President and his delegation of five ministers will visit Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the UAE and will later go to Kuwait. He is visiting the region at the invitation of Emirati President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Kuwaiti Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. The Somaliland officials will be meeting senior leaders in both countries as well as the captains of business and industry in the region.
During his talks with the oil-rich Gulf heads of State, the President will discuss regional and international issues including security, development and trade. Somaliland will aggressively seek Arab investment in the fields of energy, livestock and fisheries and logistics while it will request funds for key infrastructure and projects.
Local sources said the President and his delegation will receive the most high profile reception for a Somaliland leader. Previous visits to the region to UAE and Kuwait in 2008 and 2009 respectively former President, Dahir Riyale Kahin were low key. Both Kuwait and the UAE support development projects in the Horn of Africa nation including health clinics.The Emir of Kuwait recently completed a holiday villa worth $3 million in the town of Sheikh, in Sahil region, for his family.
The President will also take part in an international conference on maritime piracy in Dubai that is co-hosted by Dubai Ports World and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 18th – 19th April. This conference according to Emirates News Agency (WAM) has already received considerable interest from the international community and will seek to be a vehicle for discussion and generate policy ideas to tackle what has become a growing menace to harmonious trade in the region. Dubai has signalled its willingness to become a driving force against piracy in an effort to restore maritime confidence in the region since it is a global hub for trade and commerce. DP World is one of the largest marine terminal operators in the world, operating in more than 31 countries with over 50 terminals.
The President will also meet with a Chinese company in Dubai to help Somaliland expand its deep-water port of Berbera as well as constructing the Berbera Corridor (Berbera-Addis Ababa) road. The project to be funded by the EU will cost over $5.3 million.
The President will be accompanied on the trip by Mohamed Abdullahi Omar, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdirisaq Khalif Ahmed, Minister of Trade, Industrialization and Tourism, Abdullahi Mohamed Dahir, Presidential spokesman, Hersi Ali H. Hassan, Chief of Cabinet and first lady Amina Sheik Mohamoud. They flew out this morning from the Red Sea town of Berbera on a private jet provided for them by the Government of Kuwait. Somaliland hopes that the trip will build important economic links and cooperation between Somaliland and the Arab world. Though originally opposed to Somaliland separating from Somalia, in recent times, Gulf nations are slowly accepting the reality on the ground.
