Al-Qabas daily reports that the Ministry of Health will continue to import medicines and medical supplies in order to safeguard the strategic pharmaceutical stockpile and ensure that patients receive their medications on a regular basis.

It was reported to the daily that the ministry has received approvals to purchase injections for diabetic patients at an estimated cost of 3.8 million dinars, as well as "syringes" for cancer patients, which will cost 768,000 dinars, as well as "sprays" for respiratory patients at a cost of 1.5 million dinars. The sources added to Al- Qabas that the ministry is in the process of importing “injections” as antibiotics for 275,000 dinars.

The Ministry of Interior has warned drivers against driving construction vehicles on public roads unless it is extremely necessity, noting that construction vehicles will be seized and the driver will be held for violation.

As per the Ministry of Interior it stated “It was noticed in the recent period that some construction vehicles were plying on the roads, in order to protect the drivers of vehicles and roads from being damaged, instructions have been issued to withdraw the license and seize the person and the vehicle for each violator. 

According to Al-Qabas daily, the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today launched a joint campaign for Pakistan relief. During the first hours of the campaign, more than 6,397 citizens and residents came forward, and made serious donations for the support and relief of those afflicted in Pakistan. From the start of the donation campaign, they collected 148,000 dinars in less than an hour. In the campaign, only financial electronic donations were allowed, whether through Knet or Visa and MasterCard, which allowed the participation of donors from outside Kuwait.

Acting Undersecretary of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Community Development, Musallam Al-Subaie, said Kuwait has a long history of charity work that has made Kuwait a station of peace and goodwill. Al-Subaie said in a press statement on the occasion of International Charitable Day, which falls on September 5 of each year, that Kuwait contributed to alleviating the suffering of the poor and afflicted in various parts of the world, pointing out that charity work is rooted in Kuwait and means a lot to it and is an integral part of its fragrant journey. He pointed out that the Ministry of Social Affairs urges charity work as a means of permanent support to the needy and downtrodden and those afflicted by man-made and natural calamities, and to build bridges of human communication to achieve this noble goal.

The Ministry of Social Affairs, represented by the Charitable Societies Department, has handed over "usernames" and "passwords" to 64 charitable societies for use in the automated donation collection system, according to reliable sources in the ministry. Something that the ministry is working on launching soon following the completion of the phase of collecting and entering data for each charitable society separately, reports Al-Anba daily.

According to the sources, the ministry will upload charitable projects on the special platform in accordance with the rules and conditions applicable to requests to implement charitable projects inside and outside Kuwait. It falls within six models – construction (internal and external), social development (internal and external), and sponsorships (internal and external), various projects (internal and external), external relief campaigns, and seasonal (internal and external) campaigns. They affirmed that the approved electronic mechanism for collecting donations enjoys a high degree of confidentiality in preserving the data and information of the charitable societies by up to 100 percent. It is expected that the automated system will be launched before the end of next year, according to sources.

A new electronic bank that distributes seeds and helps create a greener Kuwait has been launched by environmental advocates. Called “Kuwait Seed Bank”, the aim of the project is to distribute sustainable plants, as well as, plants that have gone extinct but were refurbished through imports.

A participant in the project, Saad Al-Hayyan, told an Arab newspaper that it aims to contribute to the supply of all seeds. The project also aims for the cultivation and development of greenery for cities and deserts in order to attain a healthy environment and sustainable natural resources through the efforts of local experts.

In addition, Al-Hayyan said the seed bank is the first of its kind in Kuwait and aims to cultivate sustainable and indigenous plants, even those that were extinct. The bank has also announced a voluntary initiative to distribute 30,000 seeds consisting of sustainable and indigenous plants to replenish the environment.

Al-Qabas daily reports that the Public Authority for Manpower has activated a new mechanism to protect the financial rights of private sector and domestic workers. The daily has learned that the concerned PAM departments are now requesting the worker’s fingerprint on the work permit cancellation form to ensure that he/ she receives his full financial dues. The same sources said that this step would ensure that the terms of the clearance between the worker and the employer are finally met, and that the first party obtains its financial dues.

According to the sources, the form prepared by the authority and uploaded to the automated system is in five different languages and bears the responsibility between both parties.

According to the sources, the Authority's Labor Relations Department continues to receive complaints and labor observations every day in its various departments and works diligently to resolve any issues between workers and employers as well as to apply the law appropriately. The sources pointed out that canceling the work permit is only after the worker receives his dues, and the transfer can be obtained based on the regulations in force with the authority in the event that there is another employer to whom the worker’s file is transferred.

In the private sector, both citizens and residents, the authority plans to launch an electronic system to follow up on the disbursement of salaries. An information systems department at the Authority has recently developed a system for disbursing salaries to private sector workers, and the system has been presented to the Inspection Department, according to the sources. By using the developed system, the Inspection Department will follow up on salary certificates and the extent of commitment to payment of financial dues as well as apply regulations and penalties to those who do not comply.

The transfer of the affiliation of the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) to the Ministry of Interior is intended to corner visa traders and owners of dummy companies, as well as address marginal labor, in order to clean Kuwait's human trafficking file. This follows the arrest made by the Egyptian authorities, in coordination with their Kuwaiti counterpart, of a gang that deals with visa fraud.

"A new approach to recruiting workers from different countries is being prepared, and the regulations are being altered to organize the recruitment process according to proportion in a way that helps modify the demographic structure.", said a high-level security source. The government is determined to deal with this file radically, according to several methods, the first of which is to study the labor market and the needs of the development process, and to lay the foundations and criteria for recruiting workers for actual institutions and companies.

Methodology
Legislatively, the second method will be to amend the private sector labor law and the penal code partially to set strict penalties against visa traders due to the insufficiency of current penalties. The government will not hesitate to do so”. The source said the third method involves intensifying inspection campaigns and giving the Immigration Investigations and other inspection teams the green light to monitor companies and institutions that recruit labor from abroad, and ensuring their presence in the labor sites of these companies. It is prohibited to issue new visas to companies that fail to report the departure of those whose contracts have expired.

Sources confirmed that the new recruitment requirements include health insurance from the private sector, not the government, a drug-free certificate, and contracts that guarantee the rights of both employers and employees. He said, “The Embassy of Kuwait in Egypt suspended a number of visas that were issued recently because of a security report that some of them were forged by a gang inside Egypt seized by the Egyptian authorities. In light of the cooperation and coordination between the two countries, the security authorities in Egypt informed their Kuwaiti counterpart about the elements associated with the gang, the names of companies and power of attorney signatures. Several delegates renting commercial or fictitious licenses in Kuwait are in contact and cooperating with the gang.

According to the Ministry of Interior, delivery companies must adhere to their guidelines.

Food Authority health certificates are required for drivers of delivery vehicles, according to guidelines issued by the Ministry of Interior.

The company sticker must be displayed on all delivery vehicles. The residence of the driver of a delivery vehicle should be on the same company, where he works for. And the driver is committed to wear the uniform while driving the delivery vehicle.

As of October 1, 2022, these requirements will be in effect. According to the authorities, whoever violates these conditions will lose their license and be subject to legal action. They urged the owners of companies to comply with the instructions.

The Public Authority for Manpower has activated a new mechanism of taking workers fingerprint on the work permit cancellation form to ensure that he receives his full financial dues, local Arabic daily Al-Qabas reported.

According to report, this step would ensure that all end of service terms between the worker and the employer are fully met, and that the worker received all his financial dues.

The report added that canceling the work permit will be done only after the worker receives his dues, and the transfer can be obtained based on the regulations in force with the authority in the event that there is another employer to whom the worker's file is transferred.

Following the activation of Article 16 of the Law on the Residence of Foreigners in Kuwait, and the arrests of violators during the ongoing security campaigns in various regions of the country, a security source revealed so far about 15,000 expatriates have been deported from the country for some or the other reason since the beginning of this year until date, reports Al-Rai daily. The Arabic daily quoting security sources stressed that the pace of deportation continues at the same level for everyone who is caught violating the law or does not have a known source of income. The security source added that “the Ministry of Interior has begun to activate Article 16 of the Foreigners’ Law, which stipulates the deportation of any resident who has no apparent means of living, as many people who fall under this category have already been deported from the country.”

The source explained the procedures followed by the ministry, “After monitoring a lot of marginal workers and to prevent visa trade, the security campaigns focused on raiding random markets and seizing street vendors and customer visiting these places, and referring them to the residency affairs investigations, in preparation for taking measures to deport them from the country, as they apparently do not have enough income to live a decent life in the country,” explaining that “the aim of their deportation is to prevent them from carrying out immoral or immoral acts.” He revealed that “the number of those who have been deported from the country from the beginning of this year until now, and after the intensification of security campaigns in the country, has reached about 15,000, most of whom are Asians and Arabs.

Warned
The source warned all residents, “Even if the residence permit is valid, if caught in a violating workplace, or is caught in random and illegally established markets, the fate will be immediate deportation from the country.” These deterrent steps are being taken to control the labor market and ensure the marginal workers do not find a place in the country, which has become a threat to the demographic structure, and resulted in illegal practices.

In the Economic Complexity Index (ECI), Kuwait ranked 86th globally in terms of complexity of economy. However, the index showed that the country’s economy has become less complex than it was a decade ago, reports Al-Rai daily. Globally, Saudi Arabia ranked 42, Bahrain ranked 56, Qatar ranked 71, Oman ranked 79, and the UAE ranked 99.

The Economic Complexity Index measures the extent of the country’s productive knowledge and the volume of information on its production capabilities. It also takes into account the volume of the country’s exports and compares it with the development and diversity of other exporting countries.

The index shows that the complexity of the Kuwaiti economy comes despite the increasing diversification of the country’s exports, which has affected less complex products. It believes that Kuwait has few opportunities to diversify its production using the expertise it currently possesses. The index revealed that Kuwait is less complex than what would be expected for a country with its income level, and as a result, its economy is expected to grow slowly.

According to the Growth Lab’s forecasts for 2030, Kuwait’s growth will be around 0.7 percent annually over the next decade, placing it in the lower half of the world’s countries in terms of growth. The “Atlas of Economic Complexity” issued by Harvard Kennedy School describes Kuwait as a high-income country and ranks it as the 27th richest economy by population out of the 133 countries covered by the Atlas.

According to the Atlas, the GDP per capita of Kuwait’s population of 4.27 million is about 24,811 dollars. The average growth of per capita output has reached 3.9 percent during the past five years, which is lower than the average in the countries of the region. Kuwait ranked third richest country in the Gulf after Qatar, which ranked tenth in the world, and the UAE, which ranked 21. Bahrain ranked 31, Saudi Arabia 33, and Oman 41.

Acting Director General of the General Administration of Customs, Sulaiman Abdulaziz Al-Fahad, announced that, based on the directives of the Minister of Commerce and Industry and the Minister of Social Affairs and Community Development Fahd Al-Shariaan, customs instructions were issued to raise the fine for violating customs laws to 3 times the value of the goods seized, which is the maximum according to the unified customs law, reports Al-Qabas daily.

In a press statement, Al-Fahd confirmed that this decision comes after it was noticed recently that many attempts were made to smuggle subsidized supplies outside the country in violation of the law.

The Ministry of Interior issued new instructions for Ice Cream vendors

1. Ice Cream vendors are not allowed to drive on highways and ring roads
2. Vendors must have valid driving license to ride a motorbike
3. Motorbike used for an ice cream cart should have a number plate
4. Motorbikes should be in good condition
5. While riding a motorbike, the driver must wear a helmet
6. During night time reflective vest should be worn
7. Failure to comply with the above rules, will result in a violation where the vendor will be arrested and Ice cream cart will be seized

A new Ministerial Decree announced today by the Saudi Ministry of Tourism simplifies and speeds up entry into the country. New regulations will enable Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) residents with the option to apply for an eVisa through Visit Saudi's online portal.

A valid tourist or business visa from the UK, US, or one of the Schengen Agreement countries will continue to be valid for a visa on arrival, provided it has been used once.

Additionally, visitors no longer need to visit the Saudi Arabian embassy before entering the country, simplifying the process for potential travellers.

The future of the tourism sector rests on elevating the visitor experience, according to Ahmed Al Khateeb, Saudi Arabia's Minister of Tourism. Saudi Arabia is welcoming more and more visitors from all over the world by harnessing digital innovation and streamlining the traveller journey.

We are on track to achieve our ambitious Vision 2030 goals as we develop a sustainable, resilient and competitive tourism sector for our people."

Tourism bridges cultures and connects communities. It creates opportunities and uplifts neighbourhoods, and I am proud to lead the Ministry as we work to build this future."

Since the launch of eVisas in 2019, over 1 million have been issued.

According to Opensignal, an analytics company measuring mobile network experiences, Kuwait ranks second in the Gulf Cooperation Council in terms of 5G network availability for telecommunications.

Bahrain topped the Gulf countries with 34%, followed by Saudi Arabia, the largest market in the region geographically and in terms of population, with 28.2%, Qatar with 16.9%, the UAE with 15.3%, and Oman with 13.9%.

UAE topped the GCC in download speed through fifth generation technology with 316.8 MB/s, followed by Qatar at 278.5 MB/s, and Kuwait at 263.4 MB/s.

As for download speeds, the UAE ranked first with 743.3 MB/s, Qatar with 713.4 MB/s, Kuwait with 663.7 MB/s, Saudi Arabia with 635.9 MB/s, Sultanate of Oman with 503.5 MB/s, and Bahrain with 469.4 MB/s.

In Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate of Oman, peak speeds were recorded at a rate of 2.7 times higher than normal speeds.

In comparison with the download speed, the upload speed through fifth generation technology was significantly slower. Qatar topped the average download speed in the region, then the UAE at 27.6 MB/s, Kuwait at 24.6 MB/s, then Saudi Arabia at 23.7 MB/s. second, then Bahrain at 15.3 MB / sec, and finally the Sultanate of Oman at 13.5 MB / sec.

Using fifth generation network services, the following speeds can be achieved:

- Kuwait ranks first in 5G video experience, at 75 points, being the only market where users have an excellent experience (75 points or higher on a 100-point scale).

- The UAE ranked second at 72.4 points, then Bahrain at 71.5 points, Saudi Arabia at 68.8 points, Qatar at 68.6 points, and then the Sultanate of Oman with 67.9 points.

- The UAE topped the GCC countries in gaming experience via 5G with a score of 74 points, followed by Qatar at 69.6 points, Bahrain at 69.6 points, Kuwait at 67.4 points, the Sultanate of Oman at 61.5 points, and Saudi Arabia at 59.7 points.

- In the experience of voice applications, such as: WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook Messenger, and FaceTime via 5G, Qatar topped with 80.6 points, followed by Kuwait with 79.6 points, the UAE at 79.5 points, Saudi Arabia at 78.1 points, Bahrain at 77.7 points, and the Sultanate of Oman at 77.4 points.

- The fifth generation technology continues to progress in the countries of the Cooperation Council, so that users can enjoy improved speeds, according to OpenSignal.

In Kuwait, the cabinet decided to stop naming streets and roads, except for those that bear the names of the rulers of the State of Kuwait and those of brotherly and friendly countries, and to begin numbering them instead.

Local media reported that the cabinet urged reciprocity when naming the capitals of friendly and brotherly countries.

A decision was made by the Council of Ministers to assign the Minister of Municipality the task of naming streets and roads only after the rulers and numbering them.

Also, the names of existing streets and roads will not be changed, and this only applies to new streets and roads.

Kuwait Airport (T2) will be operated over the next two weeks by an international operator, according to the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation.

Kuwait's civil aviation officials said the operation will be for limited practice to be provided by the Central Agency for Public Tenders (CAPT) involving the operation, management, and improvement of training services, maintenance, and development of a new passenger building and affiliated aircraft hangars, as well as institutional management of the central operation and maintenance of Kuwait's international airport model, as well as the passenger buildings and affiliated operational and service facilities.

A few amendments have been made to the practice papers to change the estimated value of the project, and qualified companies will be invited to submit their technical and financial proposals in accordance with those changes.

10 global operators were expected to submit bids, and their tasks included studying all airport service providers and contracts, whether ground services, passenger buildings or aviation operators, and developing a plan for connecting all airport buildings (1, 2, 4 and 5) so that they operate as a single system and as a single interconnected airport.

The official spokesperson of the Environment Public Authority (EPA) and the Director of Public Relations Sheikha Al-Ibrahim says the ban on smoking within closed and semi closed public places is not just for tobacco cigarettes but also includes electronic cigarettes, electronic hookah (shisha) and any other tools or equipment used for the purpose of smoking, reports Al-Anba daily.

In a press statement, Sheikha Al-Ibrahim said EPA stresses the need to follow smoking restrictions in closed and semi-enclosed public places in accordance with Article No. 56 of the environmental protection law No. 42/2014 and its amendments. She highlighted that EPA continues to publish awareness videos to alert smokers and owners of establishments regarding the necessity of adhering to the regulating laws.

‘No Smoking’
Al-Ibrahim stressed the need to put a “No Smoking” sign in clear locations at the entrances to public places, adding, “In the event that ashtrays are placed outside public buildings, they must be kept away from the entrances by a distance of at least four meters”.

She also highlighted the obligation of all authorities to take the necessary measures to prevent smoking in closed and semi-enclosed spaces, as such a violation exposes the facility manager to a fine of up to KD 5,000, adding that they must allow the presence of private smoking booths that comply with technical specifications and environmental requirements. Al-Ibrahim explained that the public places she is referring to are governmental and private administrative establishments, public benefit associations, their administrative offices, their annexes, and every site that falls within their scope.

Within the framework of the government’s steps taken to address the demographic imbalance in the country, an issue that has been subjected to monitoring, research and discussions for years, and recommendations and solutions, many changes have emerged suggesting that the recent decisions taken by the government towards marginal employment are continuing to resolve the issue after it was proven that many of them did not comply with the rules and regulations and deliberately violated them, reports Al-Qabas daily.

The daily quoting sources said several changes have emerged recently, consistent with a series of new decisions aimed at toughening the penalties for violators of the residence law and has identified seven points where an expatriate can be deported, the latest of which was the recent decision issued by the Ministry of Interior, to reorganize the transport service which targets ‘on call’ and ‘roving’ taxis and in the event it is found the taxi driver has violated the law, the driving license is withdrawn and if the violation is repeated the driver is referred to the deportation center.

In addition, any expatriate driving a vehicle without obtaining a driver’s license exposes himself to direct deportation through the General Traffic Department.

 The head of the Operations Department at the Information Systems Center at the Public Authority for Manpower, Bushra Selim, revealed that the percentage of mechanization of the services offered by the authority reached 90%, with 174 electronic services, reports Al-Qabas daily. Selim said in a television interview that PAM has managed, during the past year, to renew work permits for 1.27 million residents, through the “Ashal” electronic system, in addition to issuing 30,000 permits for the first time.

She announced the authority is on the verge of a new mechanism for issuing new work files, which will be done by linking with the Ministry of Commerce, as part of efforts to complete the link with all government institutions and start linking with Arab and Gulf countries to contribute to preventing fraud and verifying the correct data, pointing out the link at the moment has been completed with 20 government agencies. In turn, the Director of the National Employment Platform Project in the Employment Department of the Authority, Badra Al-Mutairi, said that the authority is working in the context of steps to enable national workers who are reluctant to apply for jobs in the private sector, to change their convictions and directly fill the vacancies offered by companies, through the platform.

Employment
Al-Mutairi stated that all services related to national employment have been automated through the platform, whether in terms of “graduates reward, unemployment insurance, data update, job search” or other financial support services. In another context, the “Manpower” concluded rounds of inspection of workers in violation of the decision to ban work in the afternoon from 11 pm to 4 pm from last June until the end of this August.

The authority announced that it had conducted an inspection since August 21 on 20 different sites, and was able to monitor and record 20 violations against companies that did not comply with the decision. PAM stated that the total number of violations observed since the beginning of June was 360 against companies that did not comply with the decision, while the total number of sites inspected reached 420, and issued 450 notifications during the inspection tours. She pointed out that the total number of workers in the violating sites exceeded 600 workers, while the number of reports received through the hotline reached 20. Statistics following the conclusion of the ‘Ban Work at Noon’ include 360 violations against violating companies. 420 total sites inspected, 450 notifications to avoid violations, 600 workers were spotted at violating sites and 20 reports were received by PAM.

Kuwait Cabinet has declared Thursday, Sept 29 as a public holiday for all state bodies and ministries to hold parliamentary election