Kuwait development plan for ports and cities
The Kuwait government has set aside a total of $108 billion to develop new ports and cities, disclosed Wael Jassem Al-Sagar, Co-chairman of the Kuwaiti side as he addressed the 15th joint meeting of Japan-Kuwait Businessmen Committee held yesterday at the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI).
The joint meeting was inaugurated by Kuwait’s Minister of Finance Mustafa Al-Shamali along with Teruhiko Mashiko, Senior Vice Minister of Japan’s Economy, Trade and Industry. The Japan-Kuwait Businessmen Committee was established in 1995 mainly to facilitate the transfer of Japanese expertise and technology for the development of Kuwaiti workforce, improve Kuwait’s public services in health, education and environment sectors.
The government emphasized on the public-private sectors partnership and has increased the role played by private sectors. If implemented, this plan will change the local economic landscape and provide a stream of breaker projects to which Japanese investors can no doubt contribute a great deal in terms of experience and expertise," he noted.
Among the projects Al-Sagar mentioned were construction of railway system, seaports, new industrial cities and investments in power, water, oil, health and education sectors. Al-Shamali, on his part, lauded their countries’ excellent political and economic ties which he cited would further enhance after the creation of Japan-Kuwait Businessmen Committee.
Our ties are growing rapidly and Japan is number five in terms of our commercial relations with other countries," he said. "Japan has the superior capability, knowledge and experience to carry out projects. There are lots of opportunities and Kuwait is ready to cooperate with Japanese companies," he added.
Teruhiko Mashiko, Senior Vice Minister of Trade assured the Kuwaiti side that the new Yukio Hatoyama government would continue to promote their cooperation in all aspects. "Before I embark on this trip, I met my Prime Minister and told him about my visit to Kuwait. He told me to send his best regards to all of you here and wants to visit Kuwait soon, together, with our minister of trade and commerce.
Mashiko expressed hope that this meeting will help achieve better results as many Japanese investors have expressed a desire to invest in Kuwait, he said. "I do hope that Kuwait will be able to benefit from and make use of the technological capability Japan has provided in various sectors including environmental, electric power generation, water and others," he concluded.
The second half of the program was devoted to the presentation of Japan and Kuwait economies’ current and future outlook, business opportunities for both countries and sessions regarding environmental, electricity and water issues. The one-day session which began at the KCCI concluded with a dinner reception at the Japanese Ambassador’s residence in Bayan at 7 pm.
The Japan-Kuwait Businessmen Committee meeting is held annually, alternately in each country, to discuss the latest developments in trade relations shared between two countries and take follow up action to previous discussions.
© Kuwait Times 2010 Published under Cement News
