KUWAIT: Kuwait's National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Ali Al-Ghanem welcomes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al-Saud. - Amiri Diwan

KUWAIT: Kuwait National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Ali Al-Ghanem praised the results of the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz to the State of Kuwait. "The visit has added to the edifice of historical relations and fraternity between the peoples of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait," he said in a press statement on Friday. The Saudi Crown Prince's visit to his second home country, Kuwait, as part of his tour of GCC countries, comes at a time when our countries need the utmost levels of cooperation and coordination, he stressed.

Ghanem praised the joint statement issued after the visit and addressing aspects of cooperation and coordination. The statement highlights the common positions on many regional files, including the Palestinian issue, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan and other files, Ghanem said. His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, and His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishaal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah granted the Saudi Crown Prince the Order of Mubarak Al-Kabeer and the Order of Kuwait as indication that he is held in high esteem by the Kuwaiti political leadership and people, he noted. Ghanem concluded praying to God Almighty "to guide the steps of the leaders of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries to all that is good, prosperity and well-being of our peoples."

Economic cooperation

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Mohammad Al-Sager said on Friday that the visit of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Prince Mohammad bin Salman to Kuwait opens new horizons for economic and trade cooperation between both sides. This came in a statement to reporters following the end of the forum organized by KCCI on the occasion of the visit of the Chairman of the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry Ajlan Al-Ajlan, with the aim of discussing investment and trade opportunities between both countries, especially in the fields of energy, petrochemical industry, real estate and major development projects.

In the meantime, Ajlan said that his visit is part of a high-ranking delegation of economic activities to Kuwait, which accompanies the visit of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia to Kuwait. During the forum, which was held at the headquarters of KCCI, they discussed enormous growth opportunities in investment and economic development, he added, stressing that the Saudi delegation is looking forward to expanding cooperation in various fields to the business sector in both countries. The Kuwaiti-Saudi forum, organized by KCCI, witnessed the participation of the Director General of the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority Sheikh Dr Mishal Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, who explained to the Saudi delegation the details of investment in Kuwait and its success in attracting foreign capital and several international companies.

Kuwait is constantly developing regulations and laws on direct investment, he explained, underlining that investment continues to improve in order to reach Kuwait's 2035 vision, which among its main objectives is to diversify sources of income through the introduction of foreign investments. The forum also witnessed the participation of the Secretary General of the Kuwaiti Supreme Council for Planning and Development Dr Khaled Mahdi, who gave a historical overview of the importance of Kuwait's geographical location that was able to be a major station for transporting goods to neighboring countries. During the forum, a number of commercial agreements were signed between a group of private Kuwaiti companies and their Saudi counterparts, also several economic projects of interest to businessmen in both countries were discussed.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah said that Prince Mohammad's visit materialized the brotherly relations with Kuwait and its people. The visit builds on the groundwork laid by our ancestors a long time ago, May God have mercy on their souls, Prince Faisal wrote on his official Twitter account on Friday. The fraternity remained strong thanks to the good tradition followed by the righteous sons of both countries to achieve their peoples' aspiration in all fields, the noted.

He added that the Crown Prince's tour of GCC states confirmed the Gulf's unity and the shared desire to continue working for a better future. Saudi Foreign Minister stressed that the Kingdom along with its sisterly nations are working to ensure the region's stability and security, in addition to prosperity and wellbeing of the people.

Gulf integration

In the meantime, the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry stressed the necessity of accelerating the ongoing efforts in developing commercial relations between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and diversifying partnerships between the Saudi and Kuwaiti private sectors in line with the Kingdom 2030 and Kuwait 2035 development plans in order to achieve Gulf economic integration.

This came in an economic report issued by the Center for Economic Studies at the Council on the occasion of the official Gulf tour by the Saudi Crown Prince. The report reviewed the advantages of direct investment in Kuwait to improve the business climate to empower the private sector, including simplifying registration and licensing procedures for investors and allowing foreign ownership of up to 100 percent in enterprises.

The report pointed out that foreign projects enjoy investment incentives, including tax benefits, relief from customs duties and exemptions, in addition to the priority of development of promising sectors, including manufacturing, information and communications, technology, logistics supply chains, energy and mining.

It emphasized the Saudi-Kuwaiti economic relations that enjoy great support from the political leadership in both countries, and supported by effective institutional organizational frameworks, represented in the Saudi-Kuwaiti Coordination Council, memoranda of understanding and bilateral cooperation agreements in a number of fields.

It also highlighted that impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on reducing the volume of trade exchange between the two countries, which amounted to about SAR 7.7 billion (about $2.53 billion) in 2020, this ranked Kuwait in the fourth place among the GCC countries in the volume of exchange trade with the Kingdom. The report stressed the need to benefit from data created by the coronavirus pandemic and work more to increase coordination and cooperation in sectors and areas that achieve their economic interests for the Kingdom and Kuwait.

It also pointed out the diversity of commodities involved in the trade exchange between the Kingdom and Kuwait for the year 2020. Commodities exported from Saudi Arabia to Kuwait in 2020 included food supplies, animal products and intermediate industrial goods such as plastics and their products, iron and steel, while commodities imported from Kuwait during the same year were food commodities such as barley, mill products and intermediate goods such as metal products and paper. - KUNA