KUWAIT: Head of
the parliamentary economic and financial affairs committee Salah Khorsheed said
that the committee's meeting today as fundamental to discuss the state's
development plan, the government's agenda and the project of building the
northern economic zone. Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sheikh
Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and representatives of other relevant
bodies are set to attend the meeting, the lawmaker said.

Khorsheed added
that the new project in the northern region is different from the previous Silk
City project because basic changes had been made to create more non-oil
revenues and attract huge local and foreign investments. "A press
conference will follow the meeting, where Sheikh Nasser will respond to media
inquiries about the project," Khorsheed concluded.

Automated
connection

The project of
automated connection between Kuwait, Egypt and India is getting closer to
achievement, well-informed sources at the Public Authority for Manpower said.
The project targets regulating the recruitment of expatriate labor, focusing on
technical workers and avoiding marginal labor, the sources added.
"Automated connection will help have more control on labor from those
countries, and at the same time help protect workers' rights," they noted.
The sources expected the project will be launched with Egypt soon, and then
with India at a later date.

Promoting
moderation

Undersecretary of
the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Fareed Emadi issued a resolution
regulating Friday sermons, lectures and seminars held in the mosques frequented
by non-Arab Muslims, by forming a special committee to interview preachers and
evaluate their scientific standards, and report back to the ministry. The
resolution stressed that all communities' preachers and their assistants will
have to respect the mosques' charter that promotes moderation.

It also
stipulates suspending any community preacher in case of violation. In addition,
the resolution conditioned that preachers for non-Arab Muslim communities must
be able to recite Fatiha clearly and correctly, hold a university degree and at
least memorize juz Amma, be able to communicate in Arabic and be nominated by
their own community before undergoing special training courses.

Australians' tax

Kuwait is likely
going to pay income tax imposed on a number of Australian employees working at
Kuwait's cultural office in Australia, sources said. The sources added that the
Ministry of Higher Education had contacted the finance ministry in this regard,
requesting paying the tax from the state's budget to prevent losing experienced
staff members and treat them equally as other peers in the embassy.

"The matter
is still being discussed," the sources remarked. In other news, Kuwait
University's deans committee held a meeting to discuss the admission policy and
capacity for the coming academic year (2019-2020). Kuwait University Rector
Prof Hussein Al-Ansari chaired the meeting.