By Hussein Kabani

CAIRO

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Thursday issued a decree granting the emir of Kuwait the right to purchase land in Egypt.

According to the decree, published in the state’s official gazette, Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber Al Sabah will enjoy the same rights as Egyptian citizens in the application of Law 143 of 1981, which regulates the purchase of state-owned land in desert areas.

Thursday’s presidential decree makes the Kuwaiti emir the second Arab Gulf royal -- after the king of Bahrain -- to be granted the right to own land in Egypt.

Last October, al-Sisi confirmed Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa’s ownership of land -- including three villas -- in the resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

Since the ouster of Mohamed Morsi -- Egypt’s first freely elected president -- in a 2013 military coup, the Arab Gulf States have provided al-Sisi’s regime with significant political and economic support.

Egyptian law generally imposes tight restrictions on the ownership of property in Egypt by foreign nationals.