His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah received yesterday at Bayan Palace the representative of Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Khadhemi, Minister of Planning Khaled Battal Al-Najem and his official delegation. During the meeting, attended by Minister of National Assembly Affairs Mubarak Al-Harees, His Highness the Prime Minister received letter from Khadhemi addressed to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

The meeting was attended by the chief of the Prime Minister’s office Abdulaziz Dakheel Al-Dakheel and the Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development (SCPD) Dr Khaled Mahdi. Later yesterday, Iraqi planning minister Najem announced the completion of a surgery clinic in Basra funded by the Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED), noting that there are plans in place for similar joint projects in the future.

Important role
KFAED had played an important role in serving Kuwait’s political goals by supporting the Arab countries in implementing their projects to reach sustainable development. After the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on August 2 1990, the ties between the two countries were not the best until the fall of Iraq’s dictatorship in 2003, after that Kuwait supported the government of Iraq by providing soft loans and donations through the KFAED.

Lately, the cooperation between KFAED and Iraq was at best. The institution funded the Iraqi government with about $300 million distributed on different fields. In 2005 and 2007, Kuwait allocated about $50 million and $60 million respectively to help rebuild the educational and health facilities in different Iraqi regions. Furthermore, the Kuwaiti government provided Iraq with $80 million in 2012 to finance a residential area in Um Qasar, in the implementation of the recommendations of the United Nations.

Reconstruction of Iraq
In 2015, Kuwait has hosted the International Conference for Reconstruction of Iraq by an initiative of the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, where $500 million were allocated and the KFEAD donated $100 million to help the displaced and the communities in need. In 2016, KFAED provided Iraq with $100 million to help rebuild the areas damaged by terrorist operations.

Kuwait in 2018 signed a $80 million-loan agreement with Iraq to help finance a schooling project as part of the second International Conference for Reconstruction of Iraq. The project aims at supporting the social and economic development in Iraq by improving the educational level for schools students.

Moreover, the project includes the establishment of 73 new schools in 15 different governorates. KFAED was established in 1961 to assist Arab and other developing countries in developing their economies by extending Loans on concessionary term to finance development projects in the developing countries. The Fund also provides technical assistance to finance feasibility studies of projects, as well as the training of nationals of the borrowing countries. – KUNA