KUWAIT: Abdullah Al-Mutawtah, Acting Director of the Public Authority for Manpower (right), meets with Jamal Sayed Ahmad, Labor Consultant at the Egyptian Embassy in Kuwait. — KUNA

KUWAIT: A project to link the systems of manpower authorities in Kuwait and Egypt that facilitates the process of Egyptian workers' recruitment in the Gulf state is set to take place soon, a Kuwaiti official said yesterday. Abdullah Al-Mutawtah, Acting Director of the Public Authority for Manpower, made that statement following his meeting with Jamal Sayed Ahmad, Labor Consultant at the Egyptian Embassy in Kuwait. Finalizing this project was among several areas of mutual concern discussed during the meeting. The project helps limit recruitment to trained and qualified labor forces that the Kuwaiti labor market requires, while fighting 'marginal labor' and visa trafficking, Mutawtah added.

Free trade zone

There are plans to establish a free trade zone on the borders of Iraq's Basra governorate near Safwan, said Abdullah Al-Humaidhi, board member of Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), adding that this project may become a major commercial area for Kuwait and Iraq. He said the security situation in Basra and Iraq is a major concern for Kuwait's businessmen, and they need a security guarantee to enter commercial and investment activities there.

Patients abroad

The problem of financial allocations for patients abroad resurfaced as foreign hospitals are demanding payment of their late bills, and the surprise is in the huge amounts. A high ranking source at the health ministry said the allocations are snowballing, and Deputy Premier and Finance Minister Anas Al-Saleh told the health ministry that the finance ministry will not make any payment unless the member of patients is reduced by 50 percent from the 10,000 patients currently in seven countries. The source said the ministry started the reduction process and asked health offices to close the files of patients who have been treated and there is no need for them to stay abroad, yet the ministry was surprised by hospitals demanding payments of over KD 200 million, which prompted the health ministry to ask the finance ministry for help, but it refused, saying that it has paid all the money allocated for treatment abroad. The source said the health ministry must send KD 40 million per month to health offices to pay off all the accumulated bills.

Water theft

The judicially empowered team of Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) issued 19 citations for water theft in buildings of Jaber Al-Ahmad residential project, as house owners wasted and stole water in their buildings by adding floors and disconnecting meters. Violators were referred to the concerned department in the consumer sector for questioning.

By A Saleh and Meshaal Al-Enezi