MoCI permits PAAAFR to retrieve govt subsidy

Grants offered illegally to local egg production firms since 2013

KUWAIT CITY, July 23: Ministry of Commerce and Industry has allowed Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAAFR) to retrieve the governmental subsidy offered illegally to local egg production companies during the years from 2013 to 2017, reports Al-Qabas daily quoting informed sources.

They indicated that the ministry responded to PAAAFR after receiving an enquiry from the latter concerning the ministerial resolution issued in 2012 to include eggs in the ration food card and ban export of eggs overseas, based on which PAAAFR granted financial subsidy to the local companies that produced eggs.

The sources said the ministry has forwarded an official letter to PAAAFR to affirm that the decision to list eggs among ration food and ban its export abroad has been cancelled.

In another development, the ministry is on the verge of implementing four procedures to improve Kuwait’s position in the cross-borders commerce index listed within business environment improvement system.

According to informed sources, the procedures submitted by the ministry to Kuwait Direct Promotion Authority (KDPA) include completing the ratification of trade facilitation agreement by the Cabinet and then submitting it to the National Assembly, forming a permanent committee to followup the cross-borders commerce index of Kuwait and coordinating with concerned bodies inside and outside the ministry to increase the performance index.

The actions highlight the need to address KDPA as it undertakes the monitoring of implementation of the national agenda to improve the business environment of Kuwait and seek members of the global organization to follow-up the implementation of items under cross-borders commerce index of Kuwait. They also highlight the need to enumerate the authorities linked under Kuwait’s index of cross-borders commerce so that a coordinating meeting can be held to discuss the work mechanism and allot a clear strategy to improve the index.