KUWAIT: Kuwait
witnessed many events at the local level throughout 2018. The following are the
main events:

- His Highness
the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah:

Jan. 23: His
Highness the Amir received Lebanese President Michel Aoun during his official
visit to the country.

Jan. 29: His
Highness the Amir patronized and attended the flag-hoisting ceremony over Bayan
Palace, on the 12th anniversary of his assumption of office, the 57th
anniversary of National Day and the 27th anniversary of Liberation Day.

Feb. 5: His
Highness the Amir patronized and attended the ceremony of inaugurating Sheikh
Abdullah Al-Salem Cultural Center.

Feb. 14: His
Highness the Amir inaugurated Kuwait International Conference for
Reconstruction of Iraq.

Feb. 18: His
Highness the Amir ordered the payment of debts for citizens and expatriates
held in prison that comes in coincidence with the country's celebrations of
national days.

Feb. 19: His
Highness the Amir ordered giving financial grants, at his personal expense, to
the orphans on occasion of the country's celebrations of national days.

Feb. 21: Under
the patronage and attendance of His Highness the Amir, the ceremony of honoring
winners of the 21st Kuwait's Quran Memorization and Recitation Grand
Competition was held.

March 13: His
Highness the Amir received Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow
during his official visit to Kuwait.

March 18: His
Highness the Amir decorated Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko with the
Mubarak Al-Kabeer Medal during his official visit to the country. The Ukrainian
President also decorated His Highness the Amir with Yaroslav Order of Prince
Yaroslav the Wise, the country's highest order.

March 20: His
Highness the Amir patronized and attended the inauguration of the second Kuwait
Investment Forum.

March 28: His
Highness the Amir sponsored and attended the opening Kuwait Motor Town.

April 2: His
Highness the Amir received President of the Comoros Azali Assoumani and the two
exchanges memorials highlighting distinguished bilateral relations.

April 4: His
Highness the Amir sponsored and attends national celebration ceremony
"Ajeeba Haddeera" at Bayan Theater.

April 15: His
Highness the Amir headed to Saudi Arabia, heading the Kuwaiti delegation in
Arab League Council 29th session conference, at Dhahran.

April 16: Under
the auspices of His Highness the Amir and his attendance the concluding
ceremony for military rallies took place, as part of joint training to Gulf
Shield 1 training in Sammit field.

April 18: His
Highness the Amir sponsors and attends concluding ceremony of Kuwait
International Award to Holy Quran Recitation 9th session at Bayan Palace.

April 25: His
Highness the Amir sponsors and attends a ceremony honoring teachers in World
Teachers Day for the year 2016-17.

May 18: His
Highness the Amir arrives in Istanbul city to attend the Organization of
Islamic Cooperation (OIC) extraordinary summit.

May 27: His
Highness the Amir sponsors and attends a ceremony honoring the new expansion
made to the ministry of Foreign Affairs, including the opening of the new grand
hall.

May 28: His
Highness the Amir receives Qatari Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa
Al-Thani.

June 6: His
Highness the Amir delivers a speech during the last ten days of the holy month
of Ramadan, calling on all to realize changes in the region, and current
developments and dangers.

June 11: His
Highness the Amir arrives in Holy city of Makkah to partake in a joint meeting
to find ways to support Jordan recover from an economic crisis.

June 12: His
Highness the Amir receives Jordanian King Abdullah II.

June 30: His
Highness the Amir visits First Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister
Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad in Germany where he received treatment.

July 2: His
Highness the Amir patronized and attended opening of Al-Jahra Medical City.

July 4: His
Highness the Amir patronized and attended opening of Kuwait International
Airport's Terminal Four (T4).

July 7: His
Highness the Amir arrived in China on an official visit aimed at further
cementing relations and cooperation.

July 10: His
Highness the Amir addressed Arab-China Cooperation Forum and said cooperation
between Arab countries and China would contribute to regional and global security
and stability.

Aug. 21: His
Highness the Amir arrived in Britain to inquire about health condition of First
Deputy Premier and Defense Minister Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.

Sept. 4: His
Highness the Amir arrived in Washington on a state visit for summit talks with
US President Donald Trump.

Sept. 6: His
Highness the Amir met in Washington with chief executives of big American
companies.

Sept. 30: His
Highness the Amir received at Bayan Palace Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin
Abdulaziz.

Oct. 25: His
Highness the Amir named Kuwait Diplomatic Institute after late Sheikh Saud
Nasser Al-Sabah.

Nov. 7: His
Highness the Amir patronized and attended a ceremony marking exporting of
shipment of light crude oil.

Nov.7: His
Highness the Amir held summit talks with visiting Iraqi President Barham Salem.

Nov. 13: His
Highness the Amir held talks with visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Nov. 26: His
Highness the Amir patronized and attended His Highness Sheikh Salem Ali
Al-Sabah's Informatics Award.

Nov. 28: His
Highness the Amir attended opening of Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Hospital.

Dec. 3: His
Highness Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Sabah represented His Highness the Amir at
the funeral of former US President George Bush.

Dec. 9: His Highness
the Amir participated in the Gulf Cooperation Council's Summit in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia.

Dec. 10: His
Highness the Amir left hospital after undergoing regular medical examinations.

- His Highness
the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah:

Feb. 9:
Representative of His Highness the Amir, His Highness the Crown Prince headed
to Saudi Arabia to attend the 32nd session of Al-Janadriyah cultural and
folkloric festival.

March 26: Under
the patronage and attendance of His Highness the Crown Prince, Kuwait
University (KU) held its annual graduation ceremony for the academic year
2016-17.

April 17: His
Highness the Crown Prince travelled to the US to carry out medical checkups.

Sept. 30: His
Highness the Crown Prince and his Saudi counterpart, Prince Mohammad bin
Salman, held bilateral talks during the latter's visit to Kuwait.

Nov. 13:
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas honored His Highness the Crown Prince,
during a visit to Kuwait.

Nov. 19: His
Highness the Crown Prince patronized the Waqf conference.

- National
Assembly:

Jan. 7: National
Assembly's public facilities committee approved amendments on the municipal
elections law and referred them to the parliament for voting.

Jan. 7: National
Assembly's financial and economic affairs committee approved a bill allowing
the government to raise the borrowing ceiling to KD 25 billion (about $83
billion), within a 30-year period, and to sign public loans as well as carry
out financing operations from local and international financial markets.

Feb. 7: National
Assembly approved referring a report by the parliamentary budgets and final
accounts committee on some expenditures of the Ministry of Interior to the
Public Prosecution.

Feb. 11: National
Assembly's financial and economic affairs committee agreed to add 14 new items
to civil service law on appointing senior officials.

Feb. 13: National
Assembly approved a draft proposal regarding the family court.

Feb. 13: The
parliament approved a draft law allowing non-Kuwaitis to join the Kuwait Army.

March 4: The
parliament's defense and interior affairs committee agreed to amend the army's
law and rejected a proposal to equate Gulf and stateless military personnel
with their Kuwaiti counterparts.

March 6: National
Assembly approved unanimously the conflict of interest law during the first and
second sessions.

March 6: National
Assembly okayed amendments of the law of the National Fund for Small and Medium
Enterprises.

March 19:
Parliament's legal and legislative affairs committee agreed on the public
prosecution's requests to lift immunity of MPs Waleed Al-Tabtabaie and Safaa
Al-Hashem.

March 23:
National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem took part in 138th
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly in Geneva.

April 3: The
parliament agrees, in its first reading, a law amending the Labour Law in
regards to privately-employed individuals allowing full benefits for oil sector
retirees between 2010 and 2017.

April 4: The
parliament adopts a commercial law that incriminates data meddling and allows
Ministry of Commerce and Industry employees to assume a judicial policing role.

May 15: The
parliament passes a law allowing early retirement for men after 30 years of
employment and 25 years for women.

May 17: The
parliamentary women's and family committee passes amendments on the women's
housing law.

June 25: The
parliament adopts a law for Kuwait's contribution in the China-based Asian
Infrastructure Investment Bank.

June 25: The
parliament adopts a law forming a Kuwaiti anti-doping commission.

June 25: The
parliament adopts amendments to a law for the establishing of private
enterprises in a move aimed at easing the business environment.

July 8: The Court
of Cassation amended an appeal ruling in the National Assembly case by handing
three-and-a-half year sentences to 13 suspects and two years to another three.
It also rejected handing verdicts to 30 and acquits others.

July 17: National
Assembly chief Marzouq Al-Ghanem chairs a legislative meeting to discuss recent
developments in Iraq.

July 21: At Arab
Inter-Parliamentary Union talks, speaker Al-Ghanem states that an overwhelming
majority of nations believe in the legitimacy of Arab-Palestinian rights.

Oct. 10:
Al-Ghanem conveyed a message from His Highness the Amir to Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan over resolution of conflicts in the region.

Oct. 17: MP Safa
Al-Hashem was elected vice-chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Union's (IPU)
Standing Committee on UN Affairs.

Oct. 29:
Al-Ghanem received a request to withdraw an interpellation by MPs Shuaib
Al-Muwaizri and Mohammad Al-Mutair against His Highness the Prime Minister.

Oct. 30: The
National Assembly voted against revoking memberships of Waleed Al-Tabtabae and
Jamaan Al-Herbesh, and ended a grilling against Minister of State for
parliament Adel Al-Kharafi without filing a no-confidence motion.

Oct. 30: The
house approved, in two readings, a bill to change the quorum over general
assemblies of sport clubs.

Nov. 11: Speaker
Al-Ghanem announced Finance Minister Nayef Al-Hajraf would prepare a mechanism
to compensate people affected by heavy rain.

- His Highness
the Prime Minister and Government:

Jan. 5: His
Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah represented
His Highness the Amir at the conclusion of the 23rd Gulf football Cup, held at
Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium.

Jan. 15: The
government assigned the Communication and Information Technology Regulatory
Authority (CITRA) to implement the regional passage project.

March 12: The council
of ministers formed a committee tasked with examining Kuwait's retreat in the
2017 international corruption list.

March 20: His
Highness the Prime Minister attended an event to review state-of-play of Kuwait
national development plan.

April 1: The
Cabinet approves appointment of Faisal Al-Madlaj as head of the body tasked
with the development of the Silk City and Boubyan Island.

July 23: The
Cabinet adopted proposals for Offset, an obligation required from foreign
entities that sign supply contracts with the government.

Sept. 17: The
Cabinet assigned the Municipality with transferring the ownership of the
Shuwaikh Free Trade Zone to the Finance Ministry.

Sept. 26:
Representing His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, His
Highness the Prime Minister delivers Kuwait's speech at the 73rd United Nations
General Assembly.

Oct. 8: The
government assigned the Directorate General for Civil Aviation (DGCA) to
prepare executive plan for construction and operation of Kuwait Airport's
Terminal Two (T2).

Oct. 8: The
government, acting upon instructions of His Highness the Amir, provided $2
million for victims of an earthquake in Indonesia.

Oct. 15: The
government assigned the foreign ministry to follow up implementation of
agreements signed during His highness the Amir's visit to China.

Oct. 15: The
government rejected a campaign against Saudi Arabia following the murder of
Jamal Khashoggi.

Oct. 29: The
government assigned state bodies to speed up development of Failaka Island.

Nov. 6: The
government announced a day off in all government departments due to severe
weather conditions, and His Highness the Prime Minister said the state was
ready to address any emergency.

Nov. 6: The
government sacked Ahmad Al-Hassan, Director General of the Public Authority for
Roads and Transportation.

Dec. 20: His
Highness the Prime Minister patronizes and attends inauguration of the new
Amiri Hospital expansion project.

Dec. 24: The
cabinet accepted the resignations of four ministers, conducting a reshuffle and
assigning new ministers. - KUNA