KUWAIT: Assistant Undersecretary at the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic affairs for Quran and Islamic Studies Affairs Waleed Al-Shuaib said the ministry will launch the 9th Kuwait International Award for Quran Memorization and Recitation under the auspices of HH the Amir on April 10, 2018. "Kuwait is playing a leading role as a country caring for the Quran," he added, noting that the award aims at introducing various Quran recitations to the Muslim and Arab nations. Shuaib also stressed that the award enhances competition amongst participants, whom he urged to exert more effort and spend more time in preparation. He also urged younger generations to participate, noting that 138 competitors from 79 countries are expected to take part this year.

Job opportunities

During its ordinary session yesterday, the parliament discussed a number of inquiries and relevant ministers' responses to them, said parliamentary sources. In one of the inquiries, Oil Minister and Minister of Electricity and Water Bakheet Al-Rasheedi said the new refinery in Al-Zour will provide 1,000 job opportunities for citizens, in addition to 1,000 more in the biofuel project. "The executing company and the contractor are responsible for appointing 25 percent expats," he remarked.

Infertility centers

Health Minister Sheikh Dr Basel Al-Sabah said a joint committee has been formed with elements from MoH and MPW to study remarks over Jaber Hospital and work on avoiding them, pending launching it soon. Sheikh Basel added that the ministry is studying a project to build a specialized hospital for cancer treatment, in addition to two infertility centers at the maternity hospital. Minister of State for Housing Affairs and Minister of State for Services Jenan Boshehri said infrastructure contracts are proceeding according to schedule.

Behavioral sciences

The Supreme Planning and Development Council's Secretary General Khaled Mahdi said in collaboration with relevant government bodies, the council is currently working on setting the 3rd five-year development plan due to take effect in 2020-2021. Speaking on the sidelines of a lecture presented by the Kuwait Policies Center at the council's secretariat general yesterday, Mahdi stressed all ministries are playing their roles in terms of the state's general policies. Mahdi introduced speaker Dr Fadi Makki who is specialized in establishing behavioral sciences centers regionally and worldwide. Makki stressed that the lecture's topic - the spread of behavioral sciences applications - is a creative method in the application of behavioral economics to public policy in the Middle East. He added that the credit of developing this science goes to Richard Thaler, who co-wrote a book on behavioral sciences and won the Nobel prize in economics in 2017. "Kuwait is the second Arab country to establish a behavioral sciences unit following Qatar," he stressed, noting that Lebanon is third in the Arab world, although the center there is under an NGO. He also noted that UK was the first country in the world to adopt such strategies.

By Meshaal Al-Enezi