WASHINGTON: TheWorld Bank hosted a presentation on the New Kuwait Vision 2035 in collaborationwith Kuwait's General Secretariat of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development(GSSCPD). In an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the presentation,GSSCPD Secretary General Dr Khaled Mahdi shed light on the GeneralSecretariat's participation in the World Bank meetings, saying it included manycomponents, such as the project recently signed with the World Bank on thelabor market and creation of the national jobs strategy for the country.
He added thatthey also discussed the launch of the human capital plan, saying "Kuwaitis one of the early adopters of the human capital index that came from ourinterest to look at the quality of investment in the human capital in thecountry and how it can be reflected in the global competitiveness ofKuwait."
Mahdi furthernoted that the Women Business and Law (WBL) index was also discussed "withregard to the gender balance," as well as the "country engagementframe" (program of the World Bank), in which "we emphasized that thiscoming engagement of the World Bank in Kuwait for the cycle 2020-2024 should bealigned with the Kuwait Vision 2035 and should be also aligned with the KuwaitNational Development Plan (KNDP) III 2020-2025."
"We agreedon the importance of the alliance of all the World Bank activities with thenational plan which to us is considered a crucial and very importantstep," he affirmed. Meanwhile, World Bank's Regional Director of GCCCountries Issam Abousleiman said that the 2035 vision is "a very credibleambitious vision that will be a big game changer for Kuwait." He indicatedthat the KNDP III presented today took the lessons from KNDP I and II and putin a very practical term "taking into consideration the political economy,as now it is about implementation on the ground." He stressed theimportance of "perseverance and patience" that are the foundations ofdevelopment and reform, saying the vision would change what Kuwait would looklike by 2035.
Three Cs
In the meantime,Kuwait's Ambassador to the US Sheikh Salem Al-Sabah shed light during thepresentation on Kuwait's 'three Cs', affirming "we have a Committedleadership, we have a Clear vision and we have Capable people," voicingconfidence that these three Cs' will ensure that "we will get this overthe finish line and Vision 2035 will be a very big success."
During thepresentation, Dr Mahdi discussed the Kuwait Vision 2035 of His Highness theAmir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah that aims to "transform Kuwait into afinancial and trade hub, attractive to investors, where the private sectorleads the economy, creating competition and promoting production efficiency,under the umbrella of enabling government institutions, which accentuatesvalues, safeguards social identify, and achieves human resource development, aswell as balanced development, providing adequate infrastructure, advanced legislationand inspiring business environment."
Dr Mahdiindicated that the Vision was translated into the seven pillars of the NewKuwait, which are Creative Human Capital, Effective Civil Service, DevelopedInfrastructure, High Quality Health Care, Sustainable Living Environment,Sustainable Diversified Economy and Global Positioning. He noted that"each pillar has a number of strategic programs and projects that aredesigned to have the most impact on achieving the vision of a New Kuwait 2035,"implemented through the KNDP under the General Secretariat of the SupremeCouncil for Planning and Development. - KUNA