"The most important thing in this visit is that it has taken place and that it has resolved a situation that was disturbing all of us. Thank God, we are pleased now," Abbas told a press conference before heading to Saudi Arabia.
Abbas, leading a high-level delegation for the first-such visit since the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, held talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah.
"The outcome of the talks was excellent.... We have asked for financial and political support to continue and Sheikh Sabah promised this would happen very shortly," Abbas said.
Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei said that the issue of opening a Palestinian embassy in Kuwait was among many topics discussed.
"Yes, we discussed all bilateral issues between the two countries including opening a Palestinian embassy... God willing it will be opened soon," Qurei said.
On Sunday Abbas apologized for the organization's pro-Baghdad stand under the late Yasser Arafat during Iraq's invasion and seven-month occupation of the emirate by Saddam Hussein's troops.
"We apologize to Kuwait and the Kuwaiti people for what we did," said Abbas, the front-runner to succeed Arafat in the January 9 elections to choose a president for the Palestinian Authority.
The PLO chief said he believes "the Kuwaiti side has accepted the apology".
Kuwaiti foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed Al Sabah described the visit as a "good beginning" and stressed Kuwait's backing for the Palestinians.
"We are dealing with the cause of a people who are suffering under the [Israeli] occupation.... The most important thing for us now is to support the Palestinian people," he said.
Regarding opening a Palestinian embassy, he said that the issue would be discussed after the election.
Offices of the PLO and its main Fatah faction that operated in Kuwait before 1990 have not been reopened and the emirate refused to deal with the Palestinian Authority after its formation a decade ago.
Kuwait had demanded the apology from Arafat, who died last month, as a precondition for normalizing ties. Abbas publicly offered the apology despite the fact that the emirate dropped its demand for such a gesture on the eve of his trip.
Parliament speaker Jassem Al Khorafi welcomed Abbas' visit and his apology but said that the Kuwaiti "wound needs more time to heal".
"I highly appreciate the apology made by Abu Mazen [Abbas] to the Kuwaiti people. This is a step in the right direction on the path for more cooperation and understanding between the two countries," Khorafi told reporters.
The head of parliament's foreign relations committee, Mohammed Al Sager, also welcomed the Palestinian apology, but the parliamentary Popular Action Bloc, which has six MPs in the 50-member house, said it was not enough.
"We need an apology from the PLO through an official statement.... and not a personal apology," the bloc's spokesman Musallam Al Barrak said in a statement.
© 2004 Agence France-Presse
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