The Information Ministry.

By Nawara Fattahova

KUWAIT: As part of the New Kuwait 2035 vision, the Information Ministry is working on its 2021-2026 strategy. Preparations began around two months ago, and will include discussion sessions with various media, individuals and institutions. After these sessions conclude in March, the strategy will be launched.

The ministry has held 22 discussion panels in which over 340 employees participated, in addition to a team of 15 volunteers and dozens of participants from the media and other fields. The ministry concluded the first phase of these sessions on Thursday with a discussion panel held at the National Library for local press, radio stations and TV channels. During the session, the participants discussed the strengths and weaknesses of different sectors of the information ministry.

Assistant Undersecretary of the Media Planning and Knowledge Development Department of the Ministry of Information Mohammed Bin Naji said this strategy is based on three pillars. "The main pillars of this strategy are infrastructure, developing human resources and media product. The information ministry upgraded its studios from SD to HD and 4K, but human resources are still not developed," he noted during the discussion panel.

The team of volunteers is organizing these sessions. "We met various officials and employees from 11 departments of the information ministry and took their opinion on the points of strength and weakness at the ministry. We also asked them about their vision of the situation in 10 years," Khaled Al-Thkeir, member of the team, told Kuwait Times.

After they finished dealing with the information ministry staff, the team organized discussion panels with media and other people. "We invited all media including press, radio, TV, electronic media and social media accounts and influencers for these sessions. And soon we will also meet intellectuals and artists to learn their opinions and relations with the information ministry. Furthermore, we will meet with embassies to get the experience of their country in this field," Thkeir added.

The main purpose of these discussion panels is to develop Kuwaiti media and present it in its best form to the world. "The strategy of the information ministry is based on the instructions of the information minister and taking the opinion of the community from all categories, including the media, students, experts, producers, directors, actors, social media influencers and others. We ask what they expect from the official media represented by the information ministry. Based on this we will set the strategy for the next five years," Thkeir explained.