ShareBy Majd Othman
KUWAIT: Minister of Commerce and Industry and Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Affairs Mazen Al-Nahedh said human evolution has pushed the world towards major economic transformations and boosted the role of the private sector, leading to the development of a market policy. This in turn has resulted in an increase in production, growth of service sectors and formation of various global economic blocs, he said.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Competition Promotion Conference titled "Challenges and Ambition" held on Tuesday, Nahedh said the previous situation put the entire world in front of a reality that required the establishment of international rules governing competition policy and mechanisms to combat monopolistic practices that prevent the accomplishments of goals of global trade liberalization.
As a sequel to this development, Kuwait, through its program to restructure the economy in accordance with the New Kuwait 2035 vision, relied on the transformation from a system of directed economy to a free market economy. The minister affirmed that the roles of competition protection agencies and bodies are very important, as they play a vital role in the economy. "This requires the application of competition protection laws in our country as a regulatory framework teethed with technologically powerful bodies that could tackle any harmful practices to competition," Nahedh said.
He indicated practical necessities force monitoring of markets in order to achieve a strong competitive climate. "We must notice the deterministic relationship between the existence of competition among companies and what it leads to, including increasing productivity, developing markets and products and prompting competitors to raise the efficiency of their economic activity in order to develop their products and provide them at reasonable prices," Nahedh said.
"Competition protection rules help to attract foreign investments and localization of national investments, in addition of developing the private sector, while competition agencies that monitor the markets make sure that it is free of harmful practices," he added. He said the spread of competition laws globally cannot be ignored, as it considered a guide to economic development, which calls for activating these laws on the ground, with the inevitability of having strong agencies that can enforce the law and monitor the markets in an effective manner, as Kuwait still has a long way to go to improve the performance of competition mechanisms in the markets.
Reliance on oil
Undersecretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia Rola Dashti clarified in her speech that 2022 is the year of Kuwait's recovery from COVID-19, expecting GDP will rise to pre-pandemic levels by the end of this year, expecting it to grow by 6 percent.
"While we note this remarkable economic recovery, we must not lose sight of the fact that the largest proportion of this growth depends on the oil sector, which constitutes 95 percent of revenues, and this excessive dependence may restrict the prospects for economic growth in the long term, especially in the event of low oil prices," Dashti said.
She pointed out that ESCWA welcomes development efforts of the non-oil sector in Kuwait, as these efforts pave a promising path for prosperity and achievement of development goals. "ESCWA aims in this conference to raise awareness of the importance of promoting fair competitive practices and addressing the economic challenges facing Kuwait and the important role assigned to it by the Competition Protection Agency," she said. Dashti indicated the competition policy is one of the most important tools that the Kuwaiti government can use, especially after the rapid growth in the digital economy brought about by the COVID-19 crisis.
KUWAIT: Officials attending the Competition Promotion Conference titled "Challenges and Ambition" on Tuesday.Executive Director of the Competition Protection Agency Abdullah Saleh Al-Owaisi emphasized the importance of achieving a healthy competitive environment characterized by economic freedom through the effective application of the provisions of the law and the spread of a competitive culture in Kuwaiti society. He stressed the importance of this conference in raising awareness of the essential role played by the Competition Protection Agency in promoting competition and addressing the major economic challenges facing Kuwait, which also seeks to enhance knowledge of the provisions of the competition law and the benefits of its application at the level of the parties.
"This conference comes with the Kuwait's 2035 vision, which aims to transform the country into a commercial, regional and global financial center that attracts investment, in which the private sector leads economic activity, achieves human development, encourages competition and raises production efficiency under a supportive institutional apparatus," Owaisi said.
