TOKYO: The Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development, Dr Khaled Mahdi, said on Thursday that Kuwait was keen on supporting the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), indicating that his country was one of the first to join from the Middle East. Kuwait seeks to develop the logistical infrastructure and include it in Kuwait Vision 2035 through a program to develop the Northern Economic Zone and an establishment to develop Silk City and Kuwaiti islands.

This came in the Secretary-General’s speech to the third high-level forum of the BRI held in the Chinese capital of Beijing. Dr Khaled Mahdi said that the main principles of BRI matched Kuwait Vision 2035 and its development plans and agendas, as this coherence is considered a key to success for the participating countries.

Developing the necessary infrastructure to achieve communication and interconnection between the economies of the participating countries is a top priority, seeking to make the initiative successful and achieve its noble goals, he said. He noted that this development is based on several foundations, such as investing in the infrastructure of aerial, land and sea transportation in the participating countries, encouraging trade exchange, joint investment and supporting national development plans, in addition to exchanging knowledge and experiences in the fields of innovation, creativity and economics.

He added that these foundations were framed in the meeting of His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah with Chinese President Xi Jinping last September, which resulted in the signing of seven important agreements in the fields of developing marine and land infrastructure, renewable energy and waste management, green economy and circular carbon economy. — KUNA