KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah said yesterday he has decided to dissolve the National Assembly and call for fresh polls to end the ongoing political disputes between the government and MPs that threatened national unity. This was one of the opposition’s major demands.

In a hard-hitting speech delivered on his behalf by His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, His Highness the Amir said a decree will be issued “within months” to officially dissolve the assembly and call for snap polls after taking the necessary legal procedures.

“We have decided the way out of the current political scene (deadlock), with all non-agreement, non-cooperation, differences and disputes …. Is to dissolve the national assembly and call for fresh general polls,” the speech said.

He added that the decision to go back to the people will allow them to rectify the political scene marred by disputes and differences. This will be the ninth time in Kuwait’s 60 years of parliamentary democracy that the national assembly is either dissolved or suspended due to political disputes.

About 20 opposition MPs who had been on a strike in the National Assembly building for the past week, celebrated the announcement as they listened carefully to the speech on national television, they prepared to end the strike which they staged to press for the protection of the constitution.

Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem welcomed the announcement and called on the people to rally around the political leadership. The opposition-dominated assembly, elected on December 5, 2020, remained divided and saw a large number of grillings to the prime minister and ministers which forced the premier to resign.

The political crisis intensified in March after opposition lawmakers filed a non-cooperation motion against the prime minister following a grilling which forced the premier to resign in early April after 26 MPs, two more than the required quorum, said they will vote against him.

The resignation was later accepted and the premier asked to continue running the country’s affairs in the capacity of a care-taker government. In His Highness the Amir’s speech, by His Highness the Crown Prince stressed the government will not interfere in the elections nor in the election of the assembly speaker.

KUWAIT CITY : The Economist Intelligence Unit, affiliated with the British Economist magazine, highlighted many obstacles hindering the implementation of development projects that are part of the New Kuwait 2035 vision, reports Al-Rai daily. It stated that it is expecting significant progress in this regard to face the obstacles in the near future, as these obstacles are mostly administrative, adding that this confirms its anticipation that the implementation of public sector projects in Kuwait will remain plagued by excessive bureaucracy. The unit explained that the many problems faced in the implementation of public sector projects in the country are due to administrative, technical, financial, supervisory and legislative issues.

The administrative difficulties represent the biggest source of bottlenecks in the completion of Kuwaiti projects. The bureaucracy struggles with chronic problems represented in conflicts between departments, lack of decisiveness in the strategy of contracts, lack of efficiency in decision-making, and continuous delays. In addition, the rift between the government and the National Assembly, which constitutes a constant source of oversight and legislative problems, has led to delay and cancellation of major development projects since 2016. The technical problems in completing the projects are related to the great shortage that Kuwait is currently facing in the skilled workforce, following the departure of many expatriate workers from the country.

Shortage
This problem is expected to worsen with the government’s acceleration of Kuwaitization policies, which will continue to cause a shortage of manpower, and thus create more obstacles in the implementation phase of the projects. On the other hand, there is a positive factor represented in the less financial difficulties that Kuwait will face in 2022 with the rise in oil prices, which led to an improvement in the country’s public finances and thus increased capital investment.

The New Kuwait 2035 vision forms the basis of the government’s long-term strategy to diversify the economy and reduce Kuwait’s dependence on oil, and it thus will take priority in budget spending. The government is expected to use the sudden wealth, represented by the large oil revenues, to invest in huge infrastructure projects such as the Kuwait City metro network and the railway network in order to meet the objectives of the national development plan.

It is also possible that the government will focus on modernizing the existing infrastructure because the significant lack of infrastructure hinders economic growth and fuels political discontent. The Economist Intelligence Unit concluded that, after the forced reduction of capital spending in 2020/2021, the government will strengthen its support for projects with capital returns according to the New Kuwait 2035 vision during the forecast period of 2022-2026. Major public projects will remain threatened due to political blockages and slow bureaucratic procedures, which will lead to continued delays in projects and a limitation of progress. It indicated that the technical difficulties in the implementation phase would increase in parallel with the departure of more expatriate workers and the widening imbalance in the labor market.

Bangladeshi Ambassador to Kuwait Major General MD Ashikuzzaman has unveiled the country’s plan to recruit domestic workers from Bangladesh, clarifying there has been no agreement in this regard until now, reports Al-Qabas daily. He said this matter will be discussed in the second meeting of the joint committee, which is expected to be held this year. “At present, there are no Bangladeshi domestic workers in Kuwait; but there are 1,500 workers under Article 18 visa in cleaning companies. He confirmed there is coordination between the two countries for Bangladesh to provide Kuwait with skilled workers.

Asked if female Bangladeshi workers assigned in schools are facing problems, Ashikuzzaman said there are complaints that some companies are delaying the payment of salaries. He continued saying that the employment of Bangladeshi domestic workers depends on the willingness of Kuwait to provide appropriate protection for the workers through an agreement signed by the two countries. He added Bangladesh and Kuwait signed a manpower agreement in 2001, but it does not cover the labor recruitment issues. He indicated that the embassy proposed a meeting between the concerned ministers in both countries to sign a new and detailed agreement or a memorandum of understanding on the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers.

According to informed educational sources, the residency of a teacher or administrator will not be renewed without the payment of fines for traffic violations, reports Al-Anba daily.

They said the Ministry of Education has called on schools of all educational stages to inform this decision to those who wish to renew their residency.

The sources explained that the ministry has issued a number of instructions that need to be followed when applying for residency renewal. They are –

1. The residency cannot be renewed three months before the expiry date.
   2. An appointment must be booked through the Ministry of Education website – https://moe.edu.kw.
   3. The individual concerned must be present in person and they must adhere to the specified date.
   4. The documents required for renewal are –
   a. Form No. 1 approved by the school principal or the assistant principal and with the school’s stamp on it.
   b. The original passport and civil ID, as well as a copy of each.
   c. Printout of the traffic violations
   d. A copy of the last stamp of entry into Kuwait.

Agencies

A Turkish cargo ship on Wednesday left Ukraine’s Russian-occupied port of Mariupol after a round of “constructive” grain talks with Moscow, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said, without specifying if it was carrying wheat.

In a separate statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said Ankara and Moscow agreed to continue discussing a potential safe corridor in the Black Sea to export grain from Ukraine.

Ukraine is one of the top wheat suppliers globally, but its grain shipments have stalled and tons of grain have been trapped in silos since Russia sent troops into the country, fueling global food shortages.

Moscow denies responsibility for the food crisis and blames Western sanctions for the shortage.

The United Nations has appealed to both sides, as well as their maritime neighbor and NATO member Turkey, to agree on a corridor.

Ankara has so far held talks with Moscow and the U.N. on the planned corridor but has said any final agreement would require all parties to meet in Istanbul, where Turkey says the plan’s implementation would be monitored.

Talks between the Turkish and Russian military officials on Tuesday were lengthy, “positive and constructive,” the Turkish Defense Ministry said.

Talks were led by generals assigned to operate a “hotline” between Ankara, Moscow and Kyiv to seek a solution to the crisis.

The statement added that the Turkish dry cargo ship, Azov Concord, became the first foreign ship to leave the port in Mariupol – a city devastated by a weekslong siege Ukrainian officials estimate claimed 20,000 lives – since Russia’s invasion in February.

“The meeting in Moscow gave its first concrete result,” the ministry said. “Just a few hours after the end of the long meeting, the Turkish dry cargo ship, which had been waiting for days, left the Ukrainian port.”

Turkey has been spearheading efforts to resume grain deliveries across the Black Sea that have been stalled by minefields and a Russian military blockade of Ukrainian ports.

The meeting between Turkish generals and their Russian counterparts in Moscow reached “an understanding for future negotiations between Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and the U.N.,” the Turkish statement said.

“In this context, it was decided that a four-way meeting should be held in Turkey in the coming weeks, after a meeting with the Ukrainian side and the U.N.,” said the Defense Ministry.

A Russian Defense Ministry statement about the meeting noted that, “The parties discussed the safe exit of Turkish merchant ships and the export of grain from Ukrainian ports, as well as approaches to ensuring safe navigation in the Black Sea.”

Turkish Presidency sources on Tuesday said a four-way meeting between Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and the U.N. would be held in Istanbul in the coming weeks, possibly with the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

The sources said the plan envisaged creating three corridors from Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odessa under Kyiv’s supervision, and that both Ukrainian and Russian food products would be shipped from there.

They said 30 million-35 million tons of grain could be shipped from there in the next six to eight months.

Asked about the plan’s outline presented by the sources, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said “the discussions on these issues are continuing,” without elaborating.

The talks between Turkey and Russia come a day after Erdoğan and Guterres discussed plans for the corridor in a phone call. Erdoğan’s office said he told the U.N. chief that Turkey was “continuing mutual efforts” to establish the corridor.

Both Ukraine and Russia have set out a series of conditions to agree the plan. Moscow wants some Western sanctions lifted to help facilitate its grain and fertilizer exports, while Kyiv seeks security guarantees for its ports.

“Sticking point is we gave guarantees at the highest possible level and now it’s up to Ukrainians to decide,” Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said on Tuesday of the talks, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow will not use Ukrainian grain exports for military purposes.

Nebenzia stated that Ukraine had to demine the coastal waters, or if it can navigate through the mined waters, saying “let them steer those ships out to the safe passage.”

Millions of tons of wheat and other grains are currently stuck in Ukrainian and Russian-occupied ports.

The crisis has seen food prices soar and contributed to the global spike in inflation.

The U.N. warns that it is affecting poorer African countries the most because of their heavy dependence on Russian and Ukrainian wheat./Reuters

Workers at Chile's state mining company Codelco, the largest producer of copper in the world, went on an "indefinite" strike on Wednesday, unions said, protesting the closure of a foundry in one of the country's most polluted regions.

Codelco announced last week that it would close the Ventanas foundry in the towns of Quintero and Puchuncavi.

The Copper Workers Federation (FTC) released a statement saying there was "full support for this paralyzation in solidarity with the workers at the Ventanas division" from Codelco's other divisions.

FTC president Amador Pantoja told a local television station the strike will cost Codelco $20 million a day.

The FTC represents around 14,000 Codelco workers and another 40,000 external contractors, Pantoja added.

Unions described the closure of the Ventanas foundry, located around 140 kilometers (87 miles) west of Santiago, as "arbitrary" and are demanding the government invests $54 million to bring the plant up to the highest environmental standards.

The entrance to Ventanas was blocked by burning roadblocks and dozens of workers waving Chilean flags on Wednesday.

"No to closure, yes to investment," read one banner.

Codelco's decision comes after an incident on June 9 when 115 people, mostly school children, suffered sulfur dioxide poisoning released by heavy industry, provoking the closure of schools in the area.

It was the second such incident in a matter of just three days. Sulfur dioxide is a classic air pollutant usually linked to the burning of fossil fuels.

Greenpeace described the area around the Ventanas plant as "Chile's Chernobyl" following a serious incident in 2018 when around 600 people in Quintero and Puchuncavi received medical treatment for symptoms such as vomiting blood, headaches, dizziness, paralysis of their extremities and strange red marks on children's skin.

Last week, President Gabriel Boric hit out at Chile's record on polluting the environment.

"We don't want any more areas of (environmental) sacrifice," he said.

"There are now hundreds of thousands of people who live in our country exposed to severe degradation of the environment that we have provoked or allowed and, as a Chilean, that makes me feel ashamed."

Pollution accumulated in the area of Quintero and Puchuncavi, home to around 50,000 people, after the government decided in 1958 to convert it into an industrial center that now hosts four coal-fired power stations and oil and copper refineries./AFP