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SHAIKH SALEM AL SABAH, Kuwait's Minister of Defence, has said that "efforts and contacts" are presently taking place to end the Iran-Iraq war. In an interview with 'AI Taawon', the Minister said he hoped these efforts will yield positive results shortly, to stop "the haemorrhage that is draining Arab blood and economy".

THE UNITED NATIONS' SECRETARY GENERAL has informed the governments of Iran and Iraq that he is "ready to despatch a mission to the area as soon as assurances for the safety of the mission are received". The mission will have a two-fold purpose: Firstly to update a previous UN mission which reported on war damage to civilian areas and, secondly, to ascertain" The authoritative positions of the two governments on the issues related to the conflict".

PRINCE ABDULLAH BIN ABDUL AZIZ will, later this month, make his first visit to Europe and the UK since he became Crown Prince. Official sources in London confirmed that Prince Abdullah has accepted an invitation from Prime Minister Mrs. Margaret Thatcher for wide-ranging talks on Middle East issues. A Downing Street spokesman said an announcement would be made when the final arrangements for the visit are completed.

THE OPENING OF THE TRIAL of the accused in last December's bombings in Kuwait turns an unwelcome page in the country's short independent history. From independence in 1961, Kuwait enjoyed an enviable internal tranquillity, marked by a comparatively liberal regime, under which most Kuwaitis devoted much of their time to the making of money (or, if a Suq al Manakh punter, to losing it). From the safe security of the 'Little Fortress,' Kuwaitis pursued an active and individual foreign policy, enemy to almost none, and friend to nearly all.

THE SPATE OF ARMS DEALS, actual or potential, in which the kingdom is currently involved, has sparked off sharp reactions from Israel. An Israeli official in the Prime Minister's office was quoted in Bonn as saying that weapons purchased by Saudi Arabia from West Germany might well 'force' Israel into launching a pre-emptive attack against the kingdom. This kind of verbal belligerence will not be taken very seriously, least of all by Saudi Arabia itself - but it does indicate the degree of alarm with which the Israeli government regards Arab arms acquisition.

DOMINATED BY THE ISSUE OF EGYPT'S RE-ADMISSION to the Islamic Conference Organisation (ICO), the 4th Islamic Summit at Casablanca was notable more for the heated controversies it engendered than the harmony it was supposed to promote.

FOREIGN MINISTER PRINCE SAUD AL FAISAL chaired the Preparatory Meeting of Foreign Ministers of 43 countries, which drew up the agenda for the Fourth Islamic Summit which met in Casablanca from 16 to 18 January. In closed-door sessions, the ministers elected the Bureau of the Conference, with Morocco taking the Presidency, Palestine the Deputy Presidency and Malaysia and Gabon as members. The Foreign Ministers formed four committees - the Political Committee headed by Prince Saud al Faisal, the Economic Committee chaired by Moroccan Trade Minister Izzedin al Jassous, the Cultural Committee led by Moroccan Education Minister Izzedin al Iraqi, and the Drafting Committee, which groups the Conference Secretariats, Morocco and other countries.

THE RECALL OF THE JORDANIAN PARLIAMENT, in suspense since 1974 when the Rabat Arab summit designated the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) as the sole representative of the Palestinians, re-introduced a fresh and important element into the current jigsaw of Middle East politics.

THE TIME HAS COME FOR EUROPE to put pressure on the United States to change its Middle East policy if another war in the region is to be avoided, the London representative of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) told a recent meeting" in London. Speaking at the House of Commons Faisal Aouidha warned a special meeting, organised by the Council for the Advancement of Arab British Understanding (CAABU), that the scene was set for another war in the Middle East.

THE GRAVE TURN OF EVENTS IN LEBANON will cause nothing but glum consternation to the government of Saudi Arabia. The kingdom has worked long and hard to mediate in the issues facing the Arab world in Lebanon, and not without some success. The American air attacks on Syrian positions, following so shortly after the revival of the US-Israel strategic accord, makes those efforts now almost wasted and must force Riyadh to reconsider more than one of its political and diplomatic positions.

SPENDING by Bahrain government ministries is to be cut with the introduction of a new finance streamlining package, in line with the drive to get the country's development programme back on target.

BRITISH DEFENCE MINISTER, Michael Heseltine, is to make a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia in mid-December, for defence and political talks with the Saudi authorities. Government sources in London have confirmed that the talks between the British minister and his Saudi counterparts will cover mutual defence interests, the Iran-Iraq war, the Arab-Israeli dispute and the situation in the Lebanon. The London sources say that Heseltine's visit reflects the great importance the British government attaches to political and defence relations with the kingdom.

We devote much of this issue of Gulf States Newsletter to the major concerns of the fourth Gulf Co-operation Council Summit, which ended in Doha last week. However, not every aspect of the meeting of the six Heads of State can be conveniently docketed under suitable subject labels.

THE HEADS OF STATE of the six Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states meet for their fourth Summit in Qatar in an atmosphere of uncertainty and confusion, writes a Newsletters correspondent from Doha. At the time of going to press no resolutions have yet been passed, but it is already clear that the Conference is faced with a host of problems over which it has little control

THE AFFAIRS OF ALL THE GULF come into close focus on 9 November, when the Heads of State of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) meet in Doha for the Council's Summit Conference. It is a meeting at which, more so than for any previous GCC summit, grave and dangerous situations of an international significance must occupy as much attention as regional domestic concerns.