Saudi Arabia Unveils Vast Plan to End

SUBSCRIPTION TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016 RAJAB 19, 1438 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Speaker hails Obama to send Boursa Kuwait Mahrez named student parliament 250 more takes over England’s as window special forces, stock market Player of to speak2 out troops to8 Syria operations21 the19 Year Saudi Arabia unveils vast Min 21º Max 41º plan to end oil ‘addiction’ High Tide 02:50 & 13:37 Low Tide Aramco shares to be sold • $2tn fund mulled • ‘Green card’ for expats eyed 08:14 & 20:57 40 PAGES NO: 16856 150 FILS RIYADH: Saudi Arabia said yesterday it would create the conspiracy theories world’s largest sovereign investment fund and sell shares in state energy giant Aramco under a vast plan unveiled to transform its oil-dependent economy. The A man with a vision announcement of the long-term reform program, dubbed “Vision 2030”, marks the beginning of a hugely ambitious attempt to move Saudi Arabia beyond oil, the backbone of its economy for decades. “This is not a dream. This is a reality that will be achieved, God willing,” the main architect of the diversi- By Badrya Darwish fication plan, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, told reporters, many of them invited from around the world. Although it comes against a steep fall in oil prices, the plan “was not created only” to face that challenge, the prince said, answering questions for 50 [email protected] minutes at a royal palace, in a rare government press conference. The plan foresees social changes in one of the t was very interesting to hear and read in the world’s most conservative societies, with women con- media about the Saudi kingdom’s plan to launch tributing more to the workforce, something that has Ia new system for expatriates. Saudi Deputy already grown quickly over the past five years, to 30 Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced percent from 22 percent. But Prince Mohammed said he yesterday that the kingdom will within five years did not believe Saudi society was ready to end its ban implement a ‘green card’ system to allow expatriate on women driving. “So far the society is not persuaded - Arabs and Muslims to live and work in the kingdom and it has negative influence - but we stress that it is up long-term. to the Saudi society,” he said, adding that change can- This is historic. The expat problem in the Gulf RIYADH: Saudi Defense Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman speaks during a press not be forced. has been an enigma since the first oil boom and conference yesterday to announce his economic reform plan known as “Vision 2030”. — AFP Continued on Page 13 influx from all over the world of foreign workers and professionals. Every country in the Gulf has its own set of rules for how to deal with them. But in the Gulf, expats cannot work without a sponsor Call for broad strategy to fight IS (also known in Arabic as a kafeel). This has actually caused a lot of economic and social problems - both for the countries and for ‘Sense of optimism’ over Yemen talks • UN welcomes ‘progress’ expats. Rules in many cases were changed sudden- ly. It’s not a constitutional issue and many times the KUWAIT: Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled moderation and stifle extremism. Kuwait laws governing expatriates fell under the mood of Al-Jarallah called on the international com- remains “vehemently opposed” to all forms the social affairs or immigration minister at the munity yesterday to collaborate on imple- and manifestations of terrorism, he added. moment or were subject to political winds. This in menting a broad strategy to combat the In his speech, US Undersecretary for many cases led to rules and regulations that were so-called Islamic State (IS) and other terror- Public Diplomacy and Affairs Richard sometimes tough, unfair or unjust towards expats. ist groups. Jarallah made the remarks dur- Stengel said that it is imperative to curb the Actually, many times before I wrote calling on Gulf ing the opening session of the sixth meet- spread of IS’ message “through military or leaders to grant permanent residency to those who ing of the communication group of the electronic means”. “We are working on a have lived here for long periods and have a clean international coalition against the so-called portal to halt the spread of terrorist mes- police record. Islamic State, co-chaired by the United sages, and social network websites have Permanent residency could solve many prob- Arab Emirates, United States and the been willing to cooperate with us,” he noted. lems in the Gulf countries. If we had adopted this United Kingdom. Director of the UAE foreign ministry’s Policy system many years ago, we would not need to con- This strategy requires educational institu- Planning Department Mohammed Abu stantly bring new foreigners to the region. Instead, tions and media outlets to initiate an elec- Shehab said that his country has formed a permanent residency will give a chance for profes- tronic portal that would extoll the virtues of number of centers designed to fight terror- sionals and their families to stay in the country and moderation, while portraying Islam’s gen- ism. Abu Shehab also underscored the need work and be loyal and help build our prosperity. uine image, one that advocates peace and to look beyond the Internet, as “IS is capable They will have no need to send their salaries home. denounces hate, he said. This meeting is a of employing other means to disseminate They will be loyal and dedicated to this place, this testament to the international community’s its ideologies”. land and to us. determination to uphold security and rid Jarallah also said there is a “sense of opti- They are people who know the country very well the world of terrorism, Jarallah noted. mism” that over ongoing UN-brokered KUWAIT: (From left) Director of policy planning at the UAE foreign ministry along with their families and they know our tradi- These terrorist groups have exploited the Yemen peace talks hosted by Kuwait, Mohammad Abu Shahab, Kuwait’s foreign ministry undersecretary Khaled Al- tions, our culture, our values and our ways. Many of use of social media to propagate radical ide- adding that “the Yemenis are adamant that Jarallah, US State Department undersecretary of state for public affairs Rick them have already integrated into the society. ologies, the deputy foreign minister said. these peace talks result in success”. Stengel and head of the coalition communications cell at the UK foreign and com- Economically, it will boost the region, rather than Moreover, Jarallah said that Kuwait has Responding to a question on conflicting monwealth office Dan Chugg attend the ‘Global Coalition Against ISIS’ communi- bringing in new expats every two years, with many begun implementing a strategy to espouse Continued on Page 13 cation working group’s conference yesterday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat suffering from human traffickers who fill their pock- ets with money regardless of the human interests of the workers or the interests of the nation. IMF urges Gulf to Actually, I salute Prince Mohammed bin Salman for this bold and pioneering step in trying to solve the expat problem and creating a just system simi- adapt to lower oil lar to what they have in the West. The prince has a real vision for the future. I hope he will follow through and see this plan implemented in Saudi $500bn loss seen for exporters Arabia and ultimately across the Gulf. DUBAI: The International Monetary Fund This year will see “a continuation of a Thank you Prince Mohammed. forecast yesterday economic growth in low oil-price environment, so we are the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council going to see further - maybe $100 billion will be 1.8 percent this year, down from or so, in terms of lower revenues from oil 3.3 percent in 2015, and urged spending exports” Ahmed said of the GCC which Sale of state cutbacks. In an interview with AFP, IMF groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, regional chief Masood Ahmed also said Saudi Arabia and the United Arab firms referred the oil-exporting Gulf states should press Emirates. “This is now beginning to affect forwards with diversifying their revenue not just the financing (of governments) to prosecution base faced with persistent low crude but also the economies in terms of their prices. economic activities,” he said in Dubai, By B Izzak where he launched the IMF’s regional economic outlook update. KUWAIT: The National Assembly’s public funds protec- The fund had projected in October tion committee yesterday recommended that the sale that oil exporting countries in the region of two state-owned companies should be referred to would see revenue losses of $360 billion the public prosecution to investigate suspected corrup- in 2015, but oil prices took a tumble by tion and violations, head of the committee said. MP year’s end and the drop in revenue Abdullah Al-Turaiji said the committee had previously amounted to $30 billion more. In the asked the Audit Bureau to investigate the sale contracts revised economic outlook report of Kuwait Motoring Company and Kuwait Agriculture released yesterday, the IMF said these Produce Company, both sold to private investors by countries will see revenues from oil their owner Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA). exports drop even more in 2016, to The lawmaker said that the Audit Bureau report between $490 billion to $540 billion shows that the two companies were evaluated by the compared to 2014, when oil prices were same official without applying the rule that requires at higher.

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