KUWAIT: Minister of State for Economic Affairs Mariam Al-Aqeel said work on finalizing the procedures needed to electronically link labor recruitment between Kuwait and Egypt is in progress. Aqeel stressed that e-connection with Egypt or any other country exporting workers to Kuwait does not necessarily mean opening the door to hire more laborers from that country. "The basic goal of the process is to put an end to fake contracts and visa trafficking, which result in the leakage of marginal labor into the local labor market," Aqeel noted that e-connection would regulate the recruitment of foreign labor under the supervision of Kuwait and concerned countries. Aqeel added that e-connection with Egypt came after studying Egypt's e-connection with Saudi Arabia and Jordan, and stressed that the manpower authority is currently working on finalizing the needed procedures.

Runaway juvenile
A juvenile escaped from the juvenile social care hostel on Feb 22, Ministry of Social Affairs' official spokesperson and assistant undersecretary for co-op affairs Abdul Aziz Shuaib confirmed, noting that the ministry had immediately reported the matter to police. Shuaib added that on discovering the escape, a search was conducted for the two runaway juveniles - one was found and returned, while the other is still at large. Accordingly, a case was filed with the police. Shuaib explained that the runaway juvenile had been detained at the hostel pending further litigation and a final court order. He noted that the ministry had referred the entire matter to its legal affairs department for investigations to hold those responsible legally accountable. "In addition, we contacted the juvenile's family to urge him to give himself up," he concluded.

Health services
Health Minister Sheikh Dr Basel Al-Sabah issued a number of ministerial decisions adjusting the prices of some health ministry services and pricing new ones that used to be free. The new pricing list included licensing private medical facilities, licenses for medical practitioners and assistant jobs, licenses for pharmacies, medicine companies, medicine warehouses, fees collected for examining medicines, pharmaceuticals and food supplements at health ministry labs, services provided by the medical council, the licenses of transporting and disposing medical waste and the licenses of handling ionized and non-ionized radiations and transport of any radioactive materials.

Teaching French
French language supervisors strongly denied that Education Minister Hamed Al-Azmi plans to cancel teaching French in schools, explaining that a proposal had been made to stop teaching French at Kuwait University and Public Authority for Applied Education and Training colleges. Meanwhile, Azmi announced that Abdul Razzaq Al-Baseer School in Rumaithiya has been opened to receive students from the closed Mulla Al-Kandari School. He added that Palestine Secondary School will be reopened after connecting electricity to it.

Food security
Chairman of Kuwait Union of Consumer Cooperative Societies Khaled Al-Hudaiban said providing enough farms, increasing productivity and encouraging industries are basic elements in securing Kuwait's food supplies. Hudaiban refuted the justifications used by poultry companies for the lack of egg supplies in the local market and stressed that the main reason is that these companies prefer exporting eggs. In another concern, Hudaiban said the finance ministry's decision to cut 30 percent of co-ops' revenues is unfair, adding that the society has special tools to control prices in various co-ops. He added the society is keen on Kuwaitizing leading positions in co-ops.

By Meshaal Al-Enezi and A Saleh