Lebanon must not be a platform for hostile acts or words, Kuwait's foreign minister said on Sunday during a visit to Beirut, an indirect call for curbs on the Iran-backed group Hezbollah to improve strained ties with Gulf Arab states.
Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmed Nasser Al Sabah spoke after meeting President Michel Aoun in Beirut, during the first visit by a senior Gulf Arab official since a diplomatic rift last year.
Sheikh Ahmed said he had delivered confidence-building proposals to Prime Minister Najib Mikati, and that his trip was coordinated with Gulf states.
“We asked that Lebanon not be a platform for any aggression, verbal or actual,” he said after meeting Mr Aoun on Sunday. “I presented ideas and thoughts and we are awaiting a response.”
Long strained by the influence of the heavily armed militant group Hezbollah, Lebanon's ties with Gulf Arab states were plunged into a new crisis in October by comments by a former Lebanese minister criticising Saudi-led forces in Yemen.
Kuwait was one of several members of the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, that responded to George Kordahi's remarks by expelling the Lebanese ambassador and recalling its envoy to Beirut.
Mr Aoun, a political ally of Hezbollah, said in a tweet on Sunday Lebanon was keen to maintain “the best relations” with the Gulf Arab states and that the Kuwaiti proposals would be discussed before an appropriate position was announced.
Lebanese governments have long declared an official policy of disassociation from wars in the Middle East, but Hezbollah has become involved in regional conflicts, deploying fighters to Syria to help President Bashar Al Assad.
Gulf states also accuse Hezbollah of lending military support to the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen.
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Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
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