Thur, Sep 10, 2020
News Summary Report
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Kuwait FM Attends Arab League Ministerial Talks
Foreign Minister and Acting Minister of Defense Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Nasser Al- Mohammad Al-Sabah led Kuwait’s delegation at an Arab League Ministerial meeting held remotely on Wednesday.
Under the directions of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Kuwait has provided assistance worth $ 100 million for global efforts to tackle coronavirus, some of which will go to Arab states, he said.
Speaking to fellow ministers, he described the ongoing global pandemic a
“tangible threat to the security and stability” of the world.
“Cooperation and coordination between our countries and the countries of the world is necessary”, he maintained.
On the Middle East crisis, he stressed Kuwait’s “principled and steadfast position” in support of Palestinian legitimate rights and statehood, along 1967 borders with a capital of East Jerusalem and its continued support of the United Nations Agency, UNRWA, in its assistance of Palestinian refugees.
He also renewed the call for the international community to “seriously and carefully” consider the option for just and comprehensive peace as a strategic option that ends the Arab-Israeli conflict and preserves the rights of Palestinian people.
This may only be achieved through the implementation of the Arab Peace Initiative, Israel’s withdrawal from occupied Arab territories and the implementation of the United Nations Security Council resolution 242, 338 and 2334, he said.
In regards to the Syrian conflict, which has entered its tenth year, the minister described the situation there as having witnessed “unprecedented humanitarian tragedies…. (where) external parties compete at the expense of the Syrian people”. He reiterated Kuwait’s stance in rejection of a military solution to the
crisis, saying that a political settlement remains the only option in accordance with Security Council resolution 2245 and 2012 Geneva Communique.
On Yemen, he said that the conflict there continues to threaten the security and stability of the Arab region as a whole as he underlined the need for a political solution based on the three basic references – the GCC initiative, national dialogue and Security Council Resolution 2216.
He expressed support for efforts by the UN to mediate consultations and dialogue between Yemeni parties aimed at reaching a political settlement, urging these parties to commit to the process.
Saudi Arabia’s initiative to restart the Riyadh Accord talks was praised, as the minister reiterated Kuwait’s condemnation of attacks on the kingdom and support for all measures it takes to maintain its security and stability.
On Libya, he welcomed the announced ceasefire and cessation of hostilities, highlighting Kuwait’s support for global efforts aimed at ending the fighting and ensuring peace and stability there.
He went to urge parties there to aim for the nation’s benefit above all other considerations, to commit to ending the violence and resort to peaceful dialogue as a means to end the ongoing crisis.
The minister also welcomed the peace accords signed between the Transitional Government of Sudan and several opposition factions and expressed Kuwait’s support during the upcoming interim stage.
KUNA
GCC Chief Congratulates Kuwait’s Amir on Anniversary of UN Honoring Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council Dr. Nayef Al-Hajraf on Wednesday congratulated His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al- Jaber Al-Sabah on the 6th anniversary of the UN proclamation of him as a humanitarian leader.
In statements to Kuwait State TV, Al-Hajraf congratulated His Highness the Amir, His Highness the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and Kuwaiti people on the 6th anniversary of the UN
He wished His Highness the Amir speedy recovery to continue his noble humanitarian march.
The GCC chief underlined that Kuwait, guided by His Highness the Amir directives, and has been leading in aiding those effected by natural or man-made disasters worldwide.
He also recalled GCC leaders’ honoring of His Highness the Amir during their 35th Summit in Doha in 2014 as well as the World Bank proclamation of him as a development leader in 2019 in recognition of his role in supporting economic and social development worldwide.
KUNA
Gulf Forum Recommends Sustaining Online Education for Disabled
Participants in the Gulf first virtual forum for e-learning to people with Disabilities on Wednesday recommended updating infrastructure of all educational institutions to ensure sustainability of online education system for students with disabilities.
Participants in the forum, organized by Women’s Institute for Development and Peace, stressed the necessity of exerting efforts to integrate people with disabilities in society through education.
Head of the institute and the president of the forum, Kawthar Al-Jouan, said in a press statement that the forum also recommended the necessity of holding workshops and intensive training courses on e-learning for the visually impaired and their families by specialized educational and societal bodies.
Al-Jouan added that the forum also recommended providing easy access to all official and government websites so that the blind can easily and deal with them, and provide all academic curricula and university books in an electronic, non- pictorial format, for the benefit of students and teachers with visual impairment.
KUNA
15 US Military Experts Are Threatened to Depart Kuwait
They reached 60 yrs old --- pursuits to make them exception from non-renewal Sources informed Al-Qabas newspaper that 15 US military experts shall be subject to the decision of banning renewal of work permits for non-university graduate expats, who are above 60 years old.
Sources pointed out that there is official correspondence sent to the Kuwaiti Foreign ministry to make an exception for those military experts, who work in US Army related contracts, and who undertake training missions pursuant to an agreement with the US Army. Further, they work in the systems of monitoring camps, and also in operating rockets’ batteries’ technology.
Moreover, sources indicate that in case the PAM insisted on enforcing that decision, there will be deficiency in such works as there are no alternatives for those military experts at the present time.
Al-Qabas
ECONOMY
Kuwait Oil Price Down 17 Cents to $ 41.33 pb
The price of Kuwaiti oil went down by 17 cents Tuesday to reach $ 41.33 per barrel (pb) compared with $ 41.50 pb the day before, said the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) Wednesday.
The price of the Brent crude went down by $ 2.23 to $ 39.78 pb, the same with the West Texas Intermediate, which dropped $ 3.01 to $ 36.76 pb.
KUNA
Assembly Approves Budget, Discusses Financial Situation
The National Assembly yesterday approved the 2020/2021 state budget after a brief debate after the house held a closed session to discuss the financial status of the country, which centers mainly on the sovereign wealth fund, estimated to hold assets worth $ 533 billion. Thirty-two MPs voted for the budget while as many as 19 members opposed it amid calls for wider and deeper reforms, halting squandering of public funds, and diversifying the sources of income away from oil.
The budget projects a deficit of KD 14 billion, which MP Saleh Ashour said was the largest in a decade. It estimates revenues at KD 7.5 billion and spending at KD 21.5 billion, after reducing expenditures by KD 945 million. Ashour blamed what he described as the government’s incompetence for causing part of the deficit, saying the government contributed to a rise in spending and drop in non- oil revenues.
Head of the budgets committee MP Adnan Abdul Samad told the Assembly on Tuesday that oil income, which makes up the majority of public revenues, was calculated on the basis of $ 30 a barrel, while oil prices currently hover around $ 40 a barrel. Oil income in the budget was estimated at KD 5.6 billion and non-oil revenues at KD 1.9 billion. In addition, as part of the OPEC + deal to cut production by close to 10 million barrels per day, Kuwait has slashed its own oil output by around 600,000 barrels per day, thus further denting revenues.
The Assembly also approved the final accounts of the State for the 2018/2019 fiscal year. Actual spending reached KD 21.8 billion and revenues hit KD 20.5 billion, leaving an actual deficit of KD 1.3 billion. Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem
said after the closed session that Finance Minister Barrak Al-Sheetan made a presentation on the financial status of the country and a number of recommendations were submitted. He provided no further details.
MP Abdullah Al-Kandari said spending in 2011 was just KD 11 billion and rose to KD 21.5 billion in 2020, while it is expected to rise to KD 36 billion in 2030”, so how can we pay it?’ MP Ahmed Al-Fadhl called for diversifying sources of income and reducing unnecessary spending, urging the Prime Minister to take the initiative to salvage the country’s finances.
Arab Times
Threatening of “Non-Payment of Salaries” is a Redline: Economists and MPs to Al-Qabas
Economists and MPs uproared from the different attempts of the government to intimidate citizens by threatening of its inability to pay the salaries within few months. They consider that threatening of non-payment of salaries is a redline that couldn’t be breached for any reason whatsoever.
Government leaks have continued since six months to intimidate citizens of the government’s inability to pay salaries, which ended with a formal statement from the Finance Minister carrying the same meaning in order to exert pressures on MPs, who reject approval of the Public Debt.
“Failure of the government to find alternatives for the Public Debt Law doesn’t give it the right to intimidate citizens”, they said in special statements to Al-Qabas stressing that “citizens shall not bear the consequences of failure to manage the economic issues.
They further stressed that the government has to settle its economic problems away from intimidation, remarking that the remaining period of the last 50 days is not sufficient to settle budget deficiency crisis whether by convincing MPs to approve the Public Debt Law or to approve available alternatives.
They stressed that the burden of marketing the law lies on the government to convince MPs and people of its importance, remarking that counting on its approval with a necessity resolution is not preferred “as necessity resolutions should be kept for necessities”.
Al-Qabas
DOMESTIC AFFAIRS
PAM Urges Private Sector Companies to Deposit Kuwait Workers Salary in Banks
The Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) has linked the disbursement of additional financial support for the national personnel in the private sector with their companies amid the commitment of those companies to transfer the employees’ dues into their accounts within 7 days; thus until the middle of this month.
A total of 4,530 companies benefit from this support, and the sum spent on additional support for Chapter Three over the past three months is approximately KD 75 million, according to what was revealed by Director of the Public Relations and Media Department, the spokesperson of the authority, Aseel Al- Mazyad, reports Al-Qabas daily. He further indicated the authority Monday called on companies benefiting from the disbursement of additional support for the national manpower to abide by the decisions of government and deposit employees’ dues into their bank accounts before the 15th of this month, indicating it will stop disbursing support for the month of September, and consider what was disbursed to the companies for June, July and August debts in the event of non- compliance with the decisions and the deposit of salaries in the registered accounts no later than mid- September.
She pointed to serious coordination between the manpower authority, banks and financial institutions to ensure the requirements adhere to the additional financial support for national personnel, provided that the fourth batch of support is completed for the month of September as soon as the previous payments for national personnel are confirmed by the middle of the current month, while companies that fail to abide will be suspended.
Al-Mazyad explained that “last week, the authority deposited the additional support for three months with the aim of preserving the gains of the national personnel in private sector to enhance their job security in return for commitment of those companies to pay their salaries in full, and not to lay them off until June 2021.”
Meanwhile, Deputy Director for National Labor Sector Affairs at the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) Sultan Al-Shaalani has unveiled a plan to separate the files of workers in businesses operating in cooperative societies from the main file of the cooperatives, reports Al-Jarida daily.
Speaking to the daily, Al-Shaalani disclosed a meeting was held recently at the headquarters of the sector in the presence of representatives of the concerned institutions to discuss the separation mechanism.
He affirmed all those present at the meeting welcomed the idea, and had no objection to completing the separation process. He added another meeting was held Wednesday at the Ministry of Social Affairs, during which they tackled the mechanism for the separation of files, and the need to lay down a vision for the necessary operational procedures.
Arab Times
Assembly Approves “20-21 Budget – Reserve Covers Deficit
The presentation of the Finance Minister Barrak Al-Sheetan about the financial status of the country was the first item in the agenda of the National Assembly session on Tuesday.
However, State Minister of National Assembly and Service Affairs Mubarak Al- Harees requested for a closed door session during the presentation due to the confidential nature of the figures included therein. Consequently, Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim asked the MPs to vote on the request, and this led to its approval.
After the closed door session, the Assembly discussed the 5th report of the Budgets and Final Accounts Committee on the budget of the State for fiscal 2020/2021 and its final account for fiscal 2018/2019. Out of the 51 MPs and ministers present at the session, 32 voted in favor of the State budget while 19 voted against.
In addition, 27 MPs and ministers voted in favor of the final account of the State while 19 voted against. The Assembly approved the committee’s report and
recommendations regarding the State budget and final account, and then referred them to the government.
The Committee’s report said that the actual budget deficit amounted to about KD 1 billion ($ 3 billion) and is covered by the General Reserve Money. Chairman of the Committee MP Adnan Abdulsamad said the State budget for fiscal 2009/2010 was KD 11.250 billion, while that of fiscal 2020/2021 reached KD 21.5 billion. He pointed out this increase is within the normal range, but he finds it strange that the increase doesn’t match the development of services. Instead, some services deteriorated despite the budget increase, he added. He cited as an example of the KD 160 million budget for the health insurance of retirees.
He said this huge budget was supposed to result in the reduction of the Health Ministry’s expenditures, but the opposite happened as the expenses of the ministry increased. He called on the government to adopt the program- performance strategy, which has been proven to be successful in many countries.
He also affirmed support for the Kuwaitization policy, but it should be implemented according to a well-planned and integrated strategy that takes into consideration the conditions of expatriate workers; especially those who have been living with their families in Kuwait for several years as they need more time to make the necessary arrangements. He stressed the importance of preparing the required national workers before terminating the expatriates. He urged the government to revise the structure of some institutions that cost a lot without giving anything in return such as the National Council for Human Rights whose director receives a monthly salary of KD 5,000 and the lower ranking employees receive an average of KD 3,000.
Arab Times
Judicial Police to Enforce Health Provisions
Health authorities submit to the Cabinet tomorrow a report, including its vision, to face the persistent increase in the number of people infected with COVID-19 recently.
Government sources disclosed to Al-Qabas that the report will include several requests, the most significant of which are to grant the employees of the Ministry
Health and other concerned authorities the capacity of judicial police to enforce immediate fines on those who are not committed to health provisions, especially wearing masks.
“The Ministry of Health will ask other concerned authorities to control commitment to health instructions, and to do their role as required in order to help contain spread of Coronavirus”, said the sources, remarking to holding wedding ceremonies, celebrations, and parties without consideration to health warnings.
As for the tendency to close some activities or to return to partial curfew, sources said that this will depend on the increase in the number of new infections, deaths or ICU patients. Sources said that in case of further increase, precautionary measures will be taken without any hesitation, as health and safety of all require such decisions, and the government will not hesitate to take any decision.
As for the list of 32 countries, whose subjects are banned from entry into the country, sources pointed out that assessment of those countries is going, and that the report that will be submitted today might include deletion or addition to some of them.
Meanwhile, Al-Qabas sources stressed on the importance of taking precautionary vaccines for seasonal flue launched annually by the Ministry of Health prior to the Winter season, remarking that such vaccines strengthen the immune system of people and minimize repercussions of infection with COVID-19.
Al-Qabas
The Public Prosecution Formally Ascribes “Money Laundry” Charge to a Number of First Batch Celebrities
In a new development for the famous lawsuit, which has been known as
“celebrities’ money laundry lawsuit”, the Public Prosecution has reached new proofs with suspects of the first batch after marathon investigations to settle the lawsuit.
An official source stressed to Al-Qabas that the issues of a number of celebrities of the first batch have been in the last stage, and they are officially charged with
“money laundry”.
The source stressed that “money laundry charges” that were directed to celebrities of the first batch were mainly based on investigations undertaken by the country’s systems, and then, the Public Prosecution resumed its accurate investigations in the lawsuit.
“Investigations disclosed that there are clear evidences on some of the suspects of the first batch indicating that they are involved in organized crimes (money laundry)”, it added.
Al-Qabas
Sources:
KUNA: http://www.kuna.net.kw/Default.aspx?language=en
Al Rai: http://www.alraimedia.com/
Kuwait Times: http:/36Y5/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
Al-Seyassa : http://al-seyassah.com/
Al-Anbaa: https://www.alanba.com.kw/newspaper/
77777 Al-Jareeda: http://www.aljarida.com/
