Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) on Sunday signed a USD-30-million loan agreement with Nicaragua; the first of its kind, to rehabilitate a specialized hospital in the city of Chinandega, some 134 kilometers northwest of the capital Managua.
"This is the first loan agreement to Nicaragua since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1989," Kuwait's Ambassador to the United Mexican States and non-resident to Nicaragua Sameeh Hayat said in a statement.
He made the remark after Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega received the Fund's Deputy Director General Ghanim Al-Ghunaiman, accompanied by a visiting delegation to the country.
Senior Nicaraguan officials, spearheaded by President Ortega, commended the agreement as a step to further already distinguished relations between the two friendly countries, Ambassador Hayat noted.
Bilateral relations between Kuwait and Nicaragua have recently flourished, with the Latin country opening an embassy and assigning an ambassador in Kuwait City last year.
Officially the Republic of Nicaragua, the country is 130,000 square kilometers in size with a population of six million. Nicaragua is among the poorest countries in the Americas with Gross Domestic Product of about USD 18 billion according to 2008 estimates.