The function, to be attended by Kuwait's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad al-Sabah, will be held next week.

US President George W. Bush last January conferred the designation on Washington's staunchest ally in the Gulf, a move that is set to boost security cooperation between the two countries.

Sheikh Jaber said he would discuss with US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld "defense cooperation between the two nations."

The Kuwaiti-US Supreme Committee for military cooperation, which deals with strategic and security affairs, will also meet during the visit, the minister said.

Kuwait, which acted as a springboard for the US-led invasion of Iraq last year, is joining an exclusive club of countries that enjoy a privileged security relationship with the United States.

Its members, which include Japan, Australia, Israel, Egypt, South Korea, Argentina, New Zealand, the Philippines and Thailand, are granted significant benefits in the realms of foreign aid and defense cooperation.

The oil-rich emirate, which US-led forces liberated from seven months of Iraqi occupation in February 1991, has signed a defense pact with the United States and made billions of dollars worth of military purchases from Washington.

Major non-NATO allies are eligible for priority delivery of defense material and the purchase, for instance, of depleted uranium anti-tank rounds.

They can stockpile US military hardware, participate in defense research and development programs, and benefit from a US government loan guarantee programme, which backs up loans issued by private banks to finance arms exports.

However, the designation does not afford them the same mutual defense guarantees enjoyed by members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

WAR.WIRE