The Permanent Committee for Streamlining Business Environment in the State of Kuwait (PCK) and an accompanying delegation participated in the extensive technical meeting which was held over the course of 3 days, during 6-8 March, 2017, with experts from the Doing Business team of the World Bank in its headquarters in Washington, D.C., United States of America. The participants included the Head of the PCK, and Director General of Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority (KDIPA), Sheikh Dr. Meshaal Jaber Al Ahmad Al Sabah, members of the PCK and their follow-up teams, and KDIPA’s team.
The first day of the meeting was opened by His Excellency Mr. Khaled Al Roudan, Minister of Commerce and Industry, and a number of senior officials from the World Bank. H.E. the Minister expressed his deep sorrow on the sudden passing away of Mr. Khaled Al Shamali, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and member of the PCK, upon his arrival to Washington, D.C. to participate in the meeting and present achievements he endeavored to set during the last period with the Ministry’s team. H.E. the Minister urged the participants to exert the effort required to make the most of the deliberations, technical discussions, and interaction in order to learn from other countries’ successful experiences and adopt the best practices. KDIPA’s Director General also addressed the meeting, hailing the spirit of the Mr. Khaled Al Shamali as one of the “champions” of improving doing business in Kuwait, and extended his thanks to the World Bank for their technical support and called for strengthening efforts and pace of coordination to improve the Kuwait’s ranking in the Ease of Doing Business index.
The first day of the meeting included discussions on the protecting minority investors, getting electricity, and dealing with construction permits components. On the second day the components regarding registering property, paying taxes, and resolving insolvency were discussed, as well as labor market regulations, which is not included in the Ease of Doing Business index. Finally, on the third day, the remaining components discussed were enforcing contracts, trading across borders, and getting credit, in terms of legal rights and credit information by both the public and private sectors.
H.E. the Minister concluded the three-day meeting with a closing speech in which he praised the participants’ commitment and their eagerness to enrich discussions and interaction to obtain the necessary information. He confirmed that his top priority for the next 15 months is the goal of streamlining the business environment and to support the SMEs sector in order to create positive change in this important index as it will have a favorable impact in making Kuwait more attractive because it is an essential condition for the success of development efforts and economic diversification which will lead to attracting an increasing share of direct investments and enhances Kuwait’s competitiveness as a commercial hub, given its long history in commerce, strategic geographic location, balanced foreign policy, and the launch of mega projects such as the Silk City and the Mubarak Al-Kabeer port, along with several legislative developments that will favorably foster the legal environment thus facilitating procedures and stimulating commercial activity.
On a final note, the Head of the PCK, its members, follow-up teams, and KDIPA staff would like to extend their deep condolences for the passing away of Mr. Khaled Al Shamali, may God bless his soul.
