The government agencies have begun implementing the action plan in the area of managing government facilities and assets, including roads, airports, residential, industrial and service cities, and government facilities in general, reports Al-Qabas daily. This is done through the latest technological means and communications, and the development of systems through artificial intelligence. A document, seen by the daily, revealed that the implementation period will range between 5 and 8 years, and that the government’s approach aims to ensure that state facilities achieve the desired goals in terms of economic, financial and administrative aspects, in addition to managing them during disasters, through the use of modern performance measurement and monitoring systems.

The document indicated that the program will go through four different phases including reviewing the current strategies (if any); updating and developing the infrastructure project assets strategy; developing the implementation mechanism for the asset management strategic plan and obtaining the necessary approvals to approve the asset management strategy for the concerned and related parties. The sources added that the action plan includes reviewing similar experiences and projects locally in the public or private sector, and even abroad, in order to design a developed regulatory framework for smart, sustainable and resilient infrastructure asset management information systems in times of crisis.

Indian Ambassador-designate to the State of Kuwait Shri Adarsh Swaika received his credentials from the president Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday, November 17th.

Shri Adarsh Swaika is expected to took charge as Indian Ambassador to Kuwait shortly.2002 batch IFS officer Mr Swaika was working as the joint secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs.Swaika, also served as director in the UN division of India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

He has also served in Indian missions in Beijing, Sofia and Moscow in his career.

The 45th Kuwait International Book Fair opened here at Mishref fair ground today, one of the country's largest cultural events. Inaugurating the fair is Abdulrahman Al-Mutairi, Minister of Information and Culture, State Minister for Youth Affairs, and Chairman of the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters. The event will be held until the 26th of this month.

There are 29 countries participating in the book fair, including 18 Arab countries and 11 foreign countries, as well as 404 publishing houses and 117 other organizations. Italy is participating as the guest of honor.

Kuwaiti youth can present their creativity and vision through local publishing houses at the book fair, and activities held on the sidelines are a wonderful opportunity to share experiences and cultures, which contribute greatly to society's development, the minister said at the event's opening.

Kuwait International Book Fair takes place in halls 5, 6, 7 and 7B and is open to visitors from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM and 4:30 PM to 10:00 PM. It is open from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Friday

A Kuwaiti Environment Lens team member, Rashid Al-Hajji, stated today that Kuwait is one of the most diverse countries for birds, with 415 species of migratory birds in their thousands, especially the loon and flamingo.

According to Al-Hajji, bird migration begins in September, when most birds migrate from the north of the globe to Africa, whereas the day in the north gets shorter and the day in the south gets longer. A local Arabic daily reports that birds migrate north for longer days and a better climate, and so forth.

As he explained, the young birds first migrate at night and rest in the morning, as the Kuwaiti people used to hunt birds in the past with traditional methods, such as snares, slings, and hardness, and this was primarily for entertainment, after which the birds were released to continue their migration.

The most famous of these birds are the pigeon, the pomegranate, the awl, the shola, the hamroush, the qaliba, and the wild pigeon, after which the large birds migrate in the morning, such as eagles, storks, pelicans, and raptors.

A number of types of birds migrate to Kuwait after the end of migration, including flamingos, loaches, seabirds, gulls, and small birds such as robins, roars, faded owls, bint al- sabbagh, black hamrushes, ducks, and egrets.

Pharaonic owls lay eggs in January and hatch chicks in February and March, he stated. During the second migration in March, the migratory birds return to the north again for mating and hatching, and some birds begin hatching in the desert of Kuwait, including Umm Salem, Al-Qawbaa, Al-Hamra, the Alexandrian and Indian plover, and many others.

According to informed sources in the Public Authority for Roads and Transportation (PART), the procurement committee in the Ministry of Public Works agreed to proceed with the procedures for submitting a project for detailed study and design work and preparing the railway tender documents (first phase) at a value of one million dinars, reports Al-Rai daily.

They explained that the Ministry of Finance had previously given the green signal to PART to start the study, preliminary design and preparation of railway tender documents (first phase) within the limits of the estimates included in PART’s draft budget for the 2022/2023 fiscal year. The Ministry of Finance stipulated, with its approval, that the awarding and contracting procedures should not take place before the issuance of a law tying the authority’s budget for the said fiscal year.

The Kuwait Meteorological Department stated that starting evening from Wednesday some areas will face light to moderate rain. The weather forecast observer at the Meteorological Department, Abdulaziz Al-Qarawi told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that the country is expected to witness a multiplication of low and medium clouds interspersed with cumulus clouds at times, with sporadic light to medium intensity rains in some areas.

Al-Qarawi added that this coincides with the occurrence of a depression in the upper layers of the atmosphere, which leads to the multiplication of clouds, to gradually deepen, so that the peak of precipitation will be tomorrow, Thursday, until Friday evening.

He stated that the rain is expected to be accompanied by active winds that may exceed 50 kilometers per hour, causing dust in some areas, leading to sea waves rising to more than six feet. Saturday evening onwards there are chances of decrease in visibility especially in southern areas with light fog (KUNA)

The Ministry of Electricity and Water has opened the door for companies and individuals to obtain licenses to place electric car chargers in the premises of their homes and companies, reports Al-Anba daily quoting informed sources. They said this step is consistent with the state’s tendency to encourage the use of electric cars and reduce pollution resulting from car exhausts . The sources explained that the ministry has set conditions for granting the license, the first of which is an official letter from the company from which the electric car was purchased, proving the ownership of the person applying for car charger installation.

This letter is intended for the ministry to confirm that the person who requested to increase the power in his home for the electric charger only has an electric car so that the power booster is not used for other purposes. Each individual or company has the right to boost the power up to only 20 kilowatts, as the ministry will not give any licenses to strengthen the power higher than that. It is noteworthy that the Ministry of Electricity and Water has placed an electric charger at one of its entrances based on a personal initiative of the former minister to urge employees to acquire electric cars that reduce pressure on the environment.

Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas ( PBD)-2023 is being organized in Indore, Madhya Pradesh from 08 to 10 January 2023.

All Indian community associations in Kuwait and their members are invited to register and participate in PBD 2023.

3All Indian associations in Kuwait are requested to register maximum number of people from their association for PBD-2023.
Regards,

Dr Vinod Gaikwad
Head of Chancery
Embassy of India, Kuwait

For the management of domestic worker recruitment, inspection services and labor disputes between employers and recruitment offices, the Public Authority for Manpower has launched an e-application platform, in an effort to eliminate paper transactions.

On the sidelines of a workshop to activate the application, the acting director general of the authority, Mubarak Al-Jafour, confirmed that a breakthrough had begun. As part of its efforts to protect the rights of everyone, PAM has begun implementing the inspection of the private sector, followed by the management of labor relations as well as domestic workers.

Besides inspecting offices and ensuring their compliance with the law, the application aims to resolve disputes between the domestic worker and the employer as well as between the employer and the recruitment office.

According to him, the authority is committed to the government's vision of facilitating and enabling all businesses for the largest beneficiary segment, particularly domestic workers.

Nasser Al-Moussawi, Director of the Domestic Labor Department at PAM, said that the new application would replace paper-based inspection and notification systems, and through it, recruitment offices and the Ministry of Interior represented by police stations will be able to communicate via official means.

Our goal is to resolve disputes between the parties to the domestic labor contract, whether they are the recruitment office, the employer, or the domestic worker.

Rabab Al-Osaimi, Director of the Department of Information Systems Center, emphasized the importance of three pillars in the domestic labor system: the system for resolving domestic labor disputes, the system for conducting administrative inspections and the smart inspection, which is geared towards inspectors.

For the first time, the Ministry of Electricity and Water is inviting businesses and individuals to apply for licenses to install electric car chargers in their vicinity.

A local Arabic daily reported that this step is consistent with the state's tendency to encourage electric cars as a means of reducing pollution from automobile exhausts. According to the ministry, the first requirement is an official letter from the company where the electric car was purchased, proving ownership of the property by the person applying for the installation of the car charger.

Sources noted that the ministry letter must confirm that the person requesting to increase the electricity supply to his home for the installation of the electric charger must prove he owns an electric car so the power cannot be used for other purposes, emphasizing that each individual or company has the right to boost the power to up to 20 kilowatts.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that over 99 percent of the total workers in Kuwait International Airport are Kuwaitis. Kuwaiti employees in the operations, maintenance, and engineering departments, including women, run all kinds of operations in the airport, deputy director general for Kuwait International Airport affairs Saleh Al-Faddaghi told KUNA on Tuesday. The directorate has modern programs related to security and safety, information technology and cyber security, he said, adding that the airport has a lot of qualified and skilled workers in the field.

Information technology services saw a significant boost in the past few years, especially during the coronavirus crisis, said Al-Faddaghi. He noted that DGCA is in the final stages of linking information with governmental bodies online. Among the online services provided by the airport is passengers complaints through scanning a barcode and entering the directorate’s website to send their complaints, he said. DGCA will also add an online section for new employment and the dates of the tests and medical checkups for the job in the coming period, the official noted.

Al-Faddaghi said they also have a program that monitors quality of services provided to passengers across the airport. Meanwhile, he said that passengers who lose their luggage in the airport can submit a request and follow up on the retrieving process through special electronic devices in the airport or through DGCA’s website. He added that there are 24-hours surveillance cameras across the airport that can help in finding passengers’ belongings should they get stolen. As for luggage lost during fl ights, that is bags that were handed in the checkin, the issue requires bigger procedures to retrieve the bags as they could be lost in Kuwait airport or other airports, said Al-Faddaghi. By Abdulaziz Al-Mejrin (KUNA)

Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Kuwait Prince Sultan bin Saad confirmed that online visa application is no longer limited to Umrah, as it is now possible to apply for tourist visa through the website and it is issued within 10 minutes maximum, without the need to visit the embassy, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

He said tourists can go to the Kingdom and move anywhere without restrictions or conditions, and perform Umrah rituals with ease.

There have been constant meetings with ministry officials to speed up the follow-up of water gathering in different regions, as the Ministry of Works is expecting heavy to moderate rains by the end of this week.

According to sources from a local Arabic daily, the Public Authority for Roads and Land Transport has received a site from the Kuwait Municipality outside the Jahra Governorate for draining rainwater that has collected at Shaddiyah University and Sabah Al-Nasser.

It was also pointed out that the earthen berms in Sabah Al-Ahmad need to be maintained on a permanent basis, especially since some people tamper with them during the camping season. PART is keen to use water pumps as precautionary measures in the Wafra area to prevent water from gathering.

Beginning November 15, Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry will launch a new electronic service to authenticate certificates of origin.

To save time and effort and to avoid the hassle of going to the KCCI building or its branches, the KCCI has invited its members to make use of the electronic services available through its website ekcci.org.kw.

The head of the orthopedic department at the Farwaniya Hospital, Dr. Khaled Al-Enezi said the hospital will soon start using a robotic device to replace the artificial knee joints, saying this is the first government hospital in Kuwait to offer this service, reports Al- Jarida daily. He pointed out that the orthopedic department at Farwaniya Hospital is the first department to introduce robots in joint replacement surgery in government hospitals in Kuwait.

Al-Enezi announced, in a press statement, the opening of quality clinics in the orthopedic department at Farwaniya Hospital, such as the spine unit and the upper limb unit, at the end of this year or early next year. He stressed that the new robotic device is superior to traditional surgeries in terms of accuracy, extending the life span of the artificial joint, balancing the joint, and helping the patient leave the hospital in a short time. He added that workshops were organized for the department’s workers to train them on how to deal with the new device, and to familiarize doctors with it.

Al-Enezi explained that the robotic “robot” is characterized by great accuracy in improving surgical operations, as it will enable to see the joints in three dimensions before cutting the joint, and it also helps the patient to return quickly to his normal life, stressing that the introduction of this device represents a qualitative addition to the health system in Kuwait.

 The supervisor of the family nursery in the social care homes affiliated to the Ministry of Social Affairs, Iman Al-Enezi, said Kuwait’s experience in approving the step of the “surrogate mother” in embracing orphans of the homes over the past 8 years has been successful and has effectively contributed to increasing educational attainment and emotional stability of orphaned children, reports Al-Qabas daily. She added, six surrogate mothers who were chosen with great care to take care of the orphan children. Before given the task of taking care of the children, they underwent personal interviews and psychological assessment tests, to identify their ability to keep pace with the lives of children in nurseries, and their potential to embody their positive role as surrogate mothers.

Al-Enezi said: “We have observed many positives about the presence of surrogate mothers, over the past eight years, as they are currently raising 22 children in what she called ‘independent’ homes within the Children’s Home Department equipped with all necessities required to help them live next to the children.” She stated that among the positive aspects of their presence is raising the level of children’s educational attainment in schools, expanding the perceptions of assimilation and intelligence, in addition to introducing them to the customs and traditions of the Kuwaiti society and the ability to communicate with others and help them realize their future dreams.

Al-Enezi pointed out that the surrogate mothers spend most days of the week with the children of the home, and each surrogate mother takes in about 6 children around the clock for 5 days and goes out on vacation for two days. She pointed out that the surrogate mothers are real mothers for the children of the home and provide them with full care, kindness and tenderness and pride the children all they lack and support them psychologically, morally, socially, educationally and healthily.

Conditions
Al-Enezi stated that one of the conditions for choosing surrogate mothers is that they should not be less than 35 years old, should be of Kuwaiti, Gulf nationality or ‘bedoun’, in order to master teaching children Kuwaiti customs and traditions and the correct local dialect, and to have a high minimum high school certificate and practical experience in Childcare or similar education.

She said that the “surrogate mother” is an important project that has a clear imprint on the development of children’s skills, and “many parties have supported the project financially over the past years, the most important of which is the Awqaf Secretariat, which supported the project’s budget and ensured the payment of its rewards and the salaries of the surrogate mothers.” Al-Enezi explained that the family nursery provides children in the care homes a variety of different services that meet all their needs, starting with playgrounds, hand games, educational boards, the theater, in addition to the cinema hall. She pointed out that nurseries contain a group of equipped and private homes for each surrogate mother and her children, including a set of rooms and contents that any family provides for their children.

Advantages of implementing the idea include raising the educational and academic achievement of children, high level of societal awareness of children providing moral support and social and psychological care although the Civil Service Commission has not yet given a job title for the surrogate mothers. In order to overcome the issue and achieve the best results for children in care homes, the General Secretariat of Awqaf financially supported the surrogate mother project, providing the required needs and the monthly salaries of female workers within the project due to its importance.

Emergency Team Leader for the Capital Governorate in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Hamid Al- Dhafiri has confirmed the implementation of stricter rules to prevent market manipulation, in coordination with the concerned authorities; to protect consumers, refer violators to the authorities and control prices, reports Al-Qabas daily. Al-Dhafiri told the daily that the quantities of fish traded in Souk Sharq determine the selling prices for various types, as well as the law of supply and demand and fish seasons. He affirmed the ministry’s teams are working hard to uncover violations, especially commercial fraud and unjustified price hikes.

He added Sharq Fish Market conducts two auctions daily – at dawn for importers and after the afternoon prayer for local traders – under the supervision of teams from the ministry, Public Authority for Food and Nutrition, and Public Authority for Agriculture Affairs and Fish Resources with the aim of preventing fraud or anomalies in the auction.

Around 40 percent of type II diabetes patients, and 30 percent of type I patients are likely to develop Chronic Kidney Disease, stated Internal Medicine and Nephrology consultant, and President of Kuwait Nephrology Association (KNA) Dr. Anas Al-Yousef on Sunday. Dr. Al-Yousef, speaking to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), explained that the disease is detected through finding protein in urine samples, which reveals decreased kidney efficiency to around 60 percent. 

To avoid such complications, Al- Yousef explained on occasion of the World Diabetes Day tomorrow, patients of diabetes should maintain low sugar levels in blood and take their prescribed medication. He commented that a 2021 International Diabetes Federation logged 537 million adult type II patients, and by 2045, Al-Yousef added, number of patients is expected to rise to 783 million. Al-Yousef also revealed that within the past few years medication with the ability to decrease kidney complications, reduce urine protein as well as total kidney failure has been developed, mentioning that such medication is available in Kuwait’s medical centers. (KUNA)

Authorities are preparing a new residency law and new mechanisms to grant visit visas and residency permits, local daily Kuwait Times reported. Interior Minister Sheikh Talal Al-Khaled Al-Sabah will attend a meeting by end of this month to finalize the procedures, the report added.

Amendments to visit visas will be issued in January. All the visa fee will be doubled or tripled. The categories who will be able to obtain will be reduced from the current list of categories.

Strict security campaigns will continue against residency violators. Areas with large expatriate population will be isolated for strict security checking to nab all violators, it added.

 The Italian Ambassador to Kuwait, HE Carlo Balducci, announced that Kuwait will receive the fourth batch of Eurofighter planes within weeks, reports Al-Qabas daily. In response to a question by Al-Qabas daily during a press conference held at his residence on the occasion of the launch of the activities of the Italian Cultural Season 2022-2023, Balducci said: “Last September, Kuwait received the third batch of Eurofighter planes, and added the military cooperation between the two countries is going well.”

Balducci pointed out that there is a great demand from Kuwaitis to visit Italy, pointing out that the consular section issued about 25,000 visas during 2022, which indicates that Italy is one of the popular destinations for many. He explained that the procedures for issuing a visa are very simple and do not take long, pointing to the continuation of cooperation with Kuwait in various fields.

Regarding health cooperation, Balducci indicated that he met the Minister of Health, and pointed out that there is a proposal to implement a project for a center for the treatment of Thalassemia in Kuwait. He indicated Italy is distinguished in the treatment of this disease. He added that the Italian mission to excavate antiquities in Failaka will return to Kuwait early next year, specifically in January, to resume its work after a long pause due to the corona pandemic, stressing that cooperation in the field of archaeological explorations is one of the most important factors of cultural exchange. He indicated that the Italian archaeological mission has made great achievements in the pre-corona period.

Returning to the occasion, Balducci said that 10 Italian publishing houses have decided to display their books in the Italian pavilion that was established for this occasion at the Mishref exhibition grounds building, in cooperation with the Italian Trade Agency, in addition to books about the beauty of Italy. He added, “Free Italian language lessons for children and adults will be held at the Kuwait National Library, through the agreement concluded by the embassy with the Cultural Center, which provides courses to learn languages in Kuwait, including the Italian language.” He continued, “Many of the major hotel restaurants in Kuwait will celebrate these important events, by preparing special menus of the traditional Italian gastronomy, the success of which spreads widely in Kuwait during the week of Italian cuisine in the world, which takes place during the same period.”