First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.

KUWAIT: Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) plays a pivotal role in growing the nation’s overseas investments and cementing its relations with world countries, said First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah. Speaking at a National Assembly session in his capacity as KFEAD’s chairman of the board, and addressing the session’s discussion of KFAED’s budget, Sheikh Sabah Al- Khaled touted the work of the Fund which, he noted, has spiked its initial starting budget from KD 970 to five billion Kuwaiti dinars currently.

Rebuffing charges by the lawmakers of the Fund’s lack of performance over the years, he said the Fund has performed well, having “garnered a solid reputation in 105 countries on all the continents of the world.” He cited the fact that the Fund “has given 900 loans with a total value of 19 billion Kuwaiti dinars over the past 55 years in its existence.”

He nixed the idea of allowing the parliamentary committee on budgets and final accounts open monitoring offices in countries where the Fund is carrying out its investments. He showed the government’s readiness to work with the lawmakers on improving whatever they feel should be done to bolster the Fund’s overall mission and performance. — KUNA