Meshaal Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah

KDIPA will continue to work to bolster Kuwait’s economic diversification and private sector role by attracting quality investments focused on technology transfer, job creation, and capacity building.

How does KDIPA plan to further boost FDI in Kuwait?

KDIPA’s mandate places it at the core of the national drive to attain Kuwait’s key objectives of economic diversification, fostering sustainability, and invigorating the role of the private sector under the National Vision 2035, by attracting a larger share of quality direct investments pertaining to enhance technology transfer, job creation and capacity building for national workforce, and supporting local content. In this regard, KDIPA’s current interim strategic plan ensured convergence of its strategy and operations with the national set objectives by aligning upcoming projects under its strategic directions that aim at attracting and retaining investments, adopting digital transformation in operations, and enhancing KDIPA’s resilience in the face of the global challenges. On a parallel path, KDIPA acted diligently in its current and future plans to endorse sustainability, and integrate it into the mainstream workflow, in addition to including it in measuring the impact of the licensed investment entities under law No. 116 of 2013 on the local economy. This has been duly cascaded in KDIPA’s focusing on attracting value added direct investment that contributes to generating country wide extended impact and attaining the national developmental goals as well as meeting Kuwait’s voluntary commitments to attain the sustainable development goals SDGs 2030.

What measures has KDIPA taken to enhance the ease of doing business in Kuwait and improve the investment climate for foreign investors?

Since its inception, and according to its mandated tasks, KDIPA has been assuming an active advocacy role to ensure a favorable doing business environment in Kuwait. Under the directions of Kuwait top leadership, and based on a Council of Ministers Decision No. 1551/2013, KDIPA headed the Permanent Committee for Streamlining Business Environment in Kuwait. PCK adopted indicator-based reform (Tahseen Program), coordinating national efforts with competent government entities, while maintaining open channels with the private sector for feedback and dialogue to identify barriers and resolve them.

How has KDIPA collaborated to support digital transformation and economic diversification under the Government of Kuwait’s Vision 2035 and its goals?

KDIPA had focused its investment promotion activities on attracting several leading technology companies with value-added investments and facilitated their establishment and granting them incentives under the provision of its Law No. 116 of 2013, in collaboration with other competent government authorities. Under Kuwait Vision 2035, ICT is considered one of the leading sectors for pushing the vision agenda for attaining economic diversification, and enhancing effective government through digitalization of regulatory measures, offering efficient, consistent, and transparent electronic public services through designated portal and developed applications, and nurture national talents to providing the needed capabilities to efficiently manage and store big data, data analytics, machine learning, cybersecurity, AI, robotics, among other advanced technologies. The ICT sector comprised more than 32% of the total cumulative approved direct investments since KDIPA started operations in early 2015.

Could you provide insights into the progress and plans for KDIPA economic zones?

KDIPA’s three economic zones in Al Abdali, Al Wafra, and Al Naayem, with a total area of around 19sqkm, will serve as drivers of economic diversification, strengthen the private sector mobilization, create numerous types of new jobs, and support industrial development to ultimately foster the creation of competitive clusters in high-value sectors in Kuwait. The three zones are currently witnessing varying stages of development, with Al Abdali Economic Zone is in the process of finalizing its bid documents in the near future for the purpose of its development, implementation, investment, and management. Al Abdali Economic Zone is adequately positioned to become the commercial gateway to neighboring northern countries offering a mix of strategic opportunities in manufacturing, waste management, logistics, R&D, and retail, among others. Interested investors can expect to find a plethora of lucrative investment opportunities once the development is completed.