China eager to invest in Kuwait: Minister Roudhan

KUWAIT: The government is about to form a special team to act as a coordinator amongst various state departments in order to work on setting the executive procedures for the agreements and treaties Kuwait recently signed during His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah's visit to China, well-informed sources said. The sources added that agreements are a historic turning point towards achieving economic and security development in Kuwait, upon which the government relies in achieving its 2035 strategic vision of becoming one of the world's top 30 economies.

The sources added that the team would be headed by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and that it would meet twice a month presided by the minister of state for cabinet affairs. Source also noted that with the help of the Fatwa and Legislation Department and urgent referral to the parliament, the team would rephrase and amend current laws and bills in a way to facilitate the execution of these treaties so that they could be put into practice within a year.

Meanwhile, Minister of Commerce and Industry Khaled Al-Roudhan said yesterday that China has great interest in investing in Kuwait, especially after the recent joint agreements signed between the two sides In a statement released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Roudhan said Kuwait is also eager to benefit from the Chinese investment experience in developing the country's economy.

The statement added that the minister met with a top executive from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) yesterday to discuss issues of mutual concern. Kuwait and China had recently signed agreements on electronic trade to boost sustainable development during the visit of His Highness the Amir to China.

Schools reclaimed

The Ministry of Education MoE announced that it would reclaim the schools being utilized by the Ministry of Interior (MoI) to use as centers to distribute new electronic passports on Aug 12. MOE's assistant undersecretary for public education Fatima Al-Kandari said MoI had used five schools amid a rush by citizens to get the new electronic passports. She added that MoI would be contacted and urged to hand over the schools on time so that preparations for the new school year could begin. Responding to a question about teaching staff shortages in view of opening new schools by the beginning of the coming school year, Kandari stressed that no problems should be faced as various educational zones will cooperate to deal with any possible shortages.

Judicial staff

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) approved paying the bonuses of judicial staff members who had supervised the Municipal Council elections held in May, said informed sources, expecting the payments to start by next week at most.

Light oil

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation's (KPC) international marketing sector is currently preparing to export super crude light 48API oil, said informed sources, noting that exporting super light KSLC, KEC and API38 oils would start by the end of 2019. The sources predicted that around 400,000 barrels would be exported mainly to China.

Projects management system

Director General of the Public Authority for Manpower Ahmad Al-Mousa said the authority signed the first government contract approved by the projects management system. This comes on the instructions of Social Affairs and Labor Minister and State Minister for Economic Affairs Hind Al-Sabeeh to use modern systems and programs in estimating the number of workers needed for government projects in order to reduce the number of workers brought in on work permits to a minimum. Mousa said the projects management system is an international one specialized in estimating the numbers needed for government or major projects through dividing the project into segments and time plans.

By A Saleh and Meshaal Al-Enezi