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News Summary Report Wednesday/August 15, 2018
Kuwait- Korea Relations
Al-Hajraf Discussed Relations with Ambassadors of S. Korea and Nicaragua
Minister of Finance, Dr. Nayef Al-Hajraf received at his office yesterday, Ambassador of S.
Korea to Kuwait, Dr. Hong Youngki.
Both parties discussed the latest developments regarding holding of the second round of the Mutual Korean-Kuwaiti Ministerial Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation.
Al-Hajraf also met Ambassador of Nicaragua to Kuwait, Mohamed Farara Lachter. During the meeting, both parties discussed means and mechanism of enhancing economic and commercial cooperation between the two countries- Al-Seyassa.
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Domestic Affairs Mourners Pay respects to late Sheikha Fareeha Al-Sabah
His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah welcomed mourners at Bayan Palace on Tuesday, where they offered their condolences over the passing away of Sheikha Fareeha Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.
The mourners included international diplomats as well as the UAE’s State Minister for Tolerance Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan and the Qatari Amir’s personal representative Sheikh Jassem bin Mohammad Al-Thani along with the accompanying delegation.
Meanwhile, the Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council Dr Abdullatif Al-Zayani, Governor of Bahrain’s Southern Governorate Sheikh Khalifa bin Ali Al-Khalifa and Chairman of Bahrain’s Basketball Association Sheikh Essa bin Ali Al-Khalifa were also among those who expressed their sympathies over Sheikha Fareeha’s death – Arab Times
Kuwait University Seeks to Improve its Worldwide Rating
Kuwait University has prepared a stragegic plan to improve its QS rating targeting three basic indicators including academic reputation, opinion of employment authorities, and percentage of expat teaching staff.
The plan indicated that among the most significant reasons behind the low rating of Kuwait University is its deficient budget of nearly KWD 20 million for scientific research, and supervision, arbitration and teaching remunerations.
The plan further proposed to provide sufficient and flexible financial aid for researches. In addition, the plan considered that it is essential for the university to attend scientific conferences and events, and also the academic authority should participate at occupational activities and scientific fields.
The plan further indicated that rating agencies are keen on providing a percentage of foreigners at the teaching staff in order to ensure cultural diversity, however, the applicable policy at the university approves increasing the number of the teaching staff from those having Kuwaiti nationality.
The plan indicated that the performance of the university is low in the standard of foreign students, and this might be ascribed to the fact that it is the only government university in the state of Kuwait, and this represents a huge burden upon it as it has to accommodate all students, who possess all provisions of admission. This in fact exceeds its accommodation capacity, as the applicable admission policy approves 90% Kuwaitis and 10% for non-Kuwaitis.
The plan further requested increasing the percentage of foreign students by means of scholarships or students’ exchange- Al-Qabas
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Ministerial Reshuffle after Eid
Informed sources indicated that as a response to angry MPs from the performance of the government, especially in the issues of recruitment by nepotism and rejection of early retirement law, there is a tendency that is under study to make a ministerial reshuffle of three to four ministers, which shall be declared after Eid vacation.
Sources further indicated that the reshuffle aims to mitigate the serious and angry attitude from the MPs against the government prior to discussing the grilling provided by the two MPs, Mohamed Al-Mutair and Shuaib Al-Muwaizri to HE the Prime Minister, Sheikh Jaber Al- Mubarak – Al-Seyassa
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Economy Kuwait Oil Rose $ 70.5 pb
The Price of Kuwait Oil barrel rose 62 cents to be $ 70.53 as opposed to $ 69.91 pb as per the price declared by Kuwait Oil Company (KOC).
In world markets, oil prices dropped the previous day (Monday) after the release of data indicating a rise in US crude reserves, which triggered fears from a decline on demand on fuel.
The price of Brent Crude dropped 20 cents to be $ 72.61, and also WTI crude dropped 43 cents to be $ 67.2 – Al-Anbaa
$ 1.6 Billion is the Value of Acquisitions and Mergers in Kuwait in Six Months
The value of acquisitions and merger deals in Kuwait, which took place in the first half of the current year reached $ 1.6 billion by means of implementing 11 deals through which it occupied the second position all over the GCC. Kuwait acquired 32% of the total value of merger and acquisition deals that took place in GCC states with the value of $ 5.3 billion through 50 deals.
Kuwait acquired nearly one quarter of the number of deals which took place in Gulf States during the first six months of the year.
According to Economic Researches Unit at “Al-Anbaa” newspaper, which included deals of enlisted companies and private companies, Kuwait’s merger and acquisition deals witnessed a growth of nearly 14% in the first half.
Despite annual growth in the number of merger and acquisition deals in Kuwait market, the deals in Kuwait witnessed significant growth in the first half of the last year with a value of
$ 19 billion, and this led to a sharp drop in the value during the first half of the current year with nearly 72%.
UAE was at the lead of GCC states in mergers and acquisitions with the value of $ 2.4 billion, with the percentage of 45% of the total value of deals through 23 deals, despite its drop from the same period in the last year, which was 86% as the value of deals was $ 17.5 billion.
Saudi Arabia was in the third position in GCC countries with the value of $ 13 billion through 13 deals that took place in the first half of 2018 with the percentage of 18.8% of the total value of deals, with an increase of nearly 247% from the parallel period last year as the value of deals reached $ 288 million through 4 deals only.
However, Oman and Qatar come at the end of the list with the value of $ 170 and $ 46 million successively through 1 and 1 deals successively – Al-Anbaa
Decreasing Saudi Oil Production Supports Oil Prices
Oil prices rose yesterday after the release of reports from OPEC indicating that KSA reduced its oil production to avoid rising offers and declining demand, however, fears from slowing
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economic growth are looming.
At 0658h, GMT yesterday, future prices of Brent Crude rose to $ 72.85 pb with an increase of 25 cents or an equivalent to 0.3% in comparison to the previous closing.
Furthermore, future prices of WTI crude rose 25 cents or an equivalent of 0.4% to $ 67.45 pb.
Saudi Arabia informed Organization for oil exporting countries (OPEC) that it minimized production last July from 200 thousand barrels per day to 10.288 barrels per day – Al-Qabas KNPC grants tender for Ahmadi Port Refinery project to Chinese firm
Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) has decided to grant the tender for the project of maintenance and operation of replacement of heaters in the gas liquidizing units 1, 2 and 3 in Ahmadi Port Refinery to a Chinese company Sinopec, reports Al-Anba daily.
According to informed sources, the value of the contract is KD 9.1 million. They affirmed that gas production represents a major part of the work of KNPC, which has a factory for liquidizing gas in Ahmadi Port with four production lines and a total capacity of 2,458 billion cubic feet per day. The sources explained that the use of gas has a number of advantages including minimizing thermal emissions especially sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide.
It also helps save other oil products including crude oil, gas oil and fuel oil. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is used in power plants and different industries as well as for domestic use – Arab Times
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External Affairs
Delegation of the Ministry of Education reached Gaza and Broke Israeli Obstacles After absence for years since 1970s of the last century, the delegation of the Ministry of Education in Kuwait returned to break siege on Gaza and to recruit its teachers to benefit from Palestinian expertise in scientific subjects, especially math.
A diplomatic source informed Al-Qabas Newspaper that the delegation of the Ministry of Education in Kuwait and Foreign Contracting Committee reached Gaza sector in order to complete interviews of recruitment of teachers, and the source expected that 50 male and female teachers shall be recruited.
The source added that security permissions from the Israeli occupation issued the previous day after delay for several months from their submission, especially after the Palestinian diplomatic coordination as well as the role of the Ministry of Higher Education there. The source further affirmed that there were persistent efforts to avoid any intentional delay from the occupation authorities.
It clarified that the committee contracted during the past days with 50 Palestinian math teachers from the Western Bank. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education in Kuwait estimated the possibility of optimizing the number to 150 teachers in case experiences of teachers are matching the set provisions – Al-Qabas
Resuming Marine Navigation
Ports Organization declared yesterday resuming marine navigation at Shuweikh, Shuaiba and Doha after improvement in horizontal vision and stability of weather in the country.
Assistant General Manager for Administrative and Financial Affairs, Dr. Yahia Al-Abd said that work at the ports of Shuwaikh and Doha was resumed at 2am yesterday morning based on field reports from managers of marine operations- Al-Qabas
The Leadership Mourns Italy
His Highness the Amir mourns the Italian President Sergio Matarilla for the victims of the downfall of a bridge on the express road north west of the city of Ginua, which led to the death of tens of victims and injury of others. It caused also damage to public properties and utilities – Al-Qabas
Kuwait Congratulated Pakistan for the Anniversary of its Independence Day
His Highness the Amir of the State of Kuwait sent a cable of congratulation to the President of Pakistan, Mamnoun Hussein. His Highness the Crown Prince and HE the Prime Minister sent similar cables – Al-Seyassa
Page 7 of 7 KUNA: http://www.kuna.net.kw/Default.aspx?language=en
Al Rai: http://www.alraimedia.com/
Kuwait Times: http://www.news.kuwaittimes.net/website/
Arab Times: http://www.arabtimesonline.com/news/
MEED: http://www.meed.com/
Al Anbaa: http://www.alanba.com.kw/newspaper
