Next Assembly should boost, diversify economy: Experts
2024 election campaigns ‘must highlight sports development’
The upcoming National Assembly should adopt several prominent economic issues, namely laws that would boost the diversification of the Kuwaiti economy and finding new income sources that would secure sustainability, economic experts stressed. In interviews with KUNA, they said that the local economy depends on the global energy markets and their rapid fluctuations, pointing out the necessity of working on the sustainability of the national economy to transform it from a rentier economy to a productive one.
They also stressed creating an investment climate that would attract foreign capital, boost business competition, and remove obstacles for foreign investors, as well as encourage national cadres to pave their way into a free economy and encourage innovation and creativity. Financial markets expert Hassan Bu Mejdad said that resolving the structural imbalances in the national economy would be through the privatization of some government sectors, such as energy and communications.
He called for boosting private-public partnerships, citing Az-Zour North power plant, Sheqaya solar plant, and privatization of the stock market, as well as restructuring the government apparatus, canceling nonproductive sectors, and merging sectors of similar nature. For his part, Business Management Professor at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET), Dr. Abdulamir Al-Hendal, called for optimal utilization of funds in the National Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Development to progress youth projects, reduce the burden on the government, and encourage skilled employees and those working in the private sector.
He stressed the importance of activating the partnership between the public and private sectors and encouraging the foreign investment environment in Kuwait, as well as facilitating all obstacles. He called for focusing on a specific vision between the legislative and executive authorities and prioritizing it through activating strategic plans and policies that were set in the New Kuwait 2035 vision. Expert in economic and investment affairs Nader Al-Obeid said that the government and National Assembly have to “agree on a clear economic vision with specific goals” that could be achieved through intensifying all efforts and harnessing all possibilities.
He called for taking advantage of Kuwait’s special strategic location that would achieve a sustainable economic boom (renaissance), stressing in this regard the importance of creating specialized zones with diverse activities. He warned against continuing to depend on a single source of income, which is oil, and to expand investment in oil industries and produce environmentally friendly oil derivatives that would meet the needs of global markets.
Dr. Issam Al-Tawari, the managing partner for Newbury Economic Consultancy, said that the next National Assembly would be facing an important entitlement, which is to preserve the state’s sustainability through stopping overspending, boosting non-oil revenues, and collecting arrears on companies and individuals. He affirmed that diversifying income sources has become an urgent necessity in light of the developments in the world oil markets, recalling the record drop in oil prices during the COVID-19 pandemic. He stressed the importance of sustaining the national economy and transforming it from a rentier economy to a productive economy, saying that investing in people is the pillar to building a productive and sustainable economy.
Highlight sports
While the campaigns for the 2024 National Assembly elections, scheduled for April 4, are in full swing, a number of Kuwaiti athletes and officials called on candidates to highlight issues related to sports and its development. In several interviews with KUNA, they affirmed that development sports in Kuwait were as vital as any other sector in the country, deeming it a necessity.
Lawmakers in Kuwait should and must set their vision on boosting sports in the country to revitalize this important domain, Olympian shooter and champion Abdullah Al-Turqi told KUNA. Al-Turqi indicated that since the Kuwaiti population has a majority of youth, the quest to develop sports in the country was not something trivial. Those involved in sports, whether athletes or officials, are eager to see Kuwaiti sports soar high, the Kuwaiti athlete indicated, noting that 2024 National Assembly candidates have the chance to bring such issues into the limelight.
He stressed that sports occupied the youth’s time and made them veer off illicit activities such as reckless driving and, god forbid, narcotics. On his part, President of the Kuwaiti Winter Games Club Fehaid Al-Ajmi affirmed that sports must take center stage in political discourse, expressing bewilderment over the lack of sports issues in some of the candidates’ rhetoric.
Finding solutions to problems plaguing sports development in the country and boosting the “soft power” impact of sports are indicators of countries that seek true progress, he stressed. Public and private sports clubs and entities all deserve attention, affirmed Al-Ajmi, adding that the youth of Kuwait are worthy of such care. Also giving a similar input, the head of the women’s committee at the Kuwaiti Karate Federation, Souad Al-Roumi, indicated that sports was sort of a language that connected nations and reflected positively on overall development.
She said that recent upsets in Kuwaiti sports might be attributed to a lack of attention on the part of lawmakers, who should do their utmost to address all challenges facing athletes in the country and find means to overcome them. She also stressed that women’s sports must also be included in the discussion to have an overall impact on the development of Kuwaiti sports. Candidates might have a lack of knowledge when it comes to sports, Dr. Hamad Majed, a sports consultant, told KUNA.
The absence of a clear national program for sports also might contribute to the seeming disinterest in sports by some candidates, Majed said, calling on lawmakers to set aside their political differences when it came to this vital issue for many of the youths in the country. He stressed that winners of the elections must include sports development in their agenda when reaching parliament, saying that developing sports was part of Kuwait Vision 2035.