Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, which was established in December 1961 just a few months following the country’s independence, was created with the sincere desire to provide monetary and technical assistance to Arab states to support their efforts to achieve economic and social development, and to promote cooperation and friendship between Kuwait and these countries.
In July 1974 the Fund was reorganized and its mandate was expanded to include the provision of providing assistance to developing countries in general, in addition to Arab countries, and thereby promote the role of Kuwait in the international community.
Since its inception, the object of the Fund has been to assist countries through loans, guarantees and grants, as well as providing technical assistance for development projects in various sectors, including primarily in agriculture and irrigation, transport and communication, energy, industry, water and sewage. The Fund has also contributed to capital stocks of international and regional development finance institutions and other development institutions and represented the State of Kuwait in such institutions.
Since inception, the Fund has continued its objective of assisting developing nations in their efforts to achieve their development goals and further improve the standard of living of their people and societies. From its establishment in 1961 to the end of 2019, the Fund had extended 987 loans with a total value of KD6.5 billion. During this period, the Fund’s loans, grants and technical assistance had benefited a total of 107 countries, including Arab and African nations, as well as Asian, European, Latin American and Caribbean countries..
The Fund also continued the implementation of His Highness the Amir’ Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s directive to the Fund, to provide concessional loans to an amount of US$1 billion to finance development projects in African countries and to lend assistance to the Syrian refugees in neighboring countries and for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip following the war there.
However, the Fund is not all about just providing loans, grants and technical assistance to support development in other countries; it also has an internal component that aims to further development within the country. To further this aim, the Fund has over the years remained committed to developing human resources in the country, based on the belief that such assets form the linchpin of Kuwait’s future growth and development.
In this regard, in 2004, the Fund launched a program to train newly graduated Kuwaiti engineers and architects in order to prepare them to work in the private sector. The program has been implemented in three stages. The first stage aims to strengthen the basic skills of graduates through a number of intensive lectures and workshops for a period of three months. The second stage involves practical training, during which the trainees join international companies to enhance their awareness of modern engineering ways and to provide them with experience through giving them assignments over a period of 6 months outside Kuwait. The third stage is centered on field training, during which the trainee joins Kuwaiti companies to apply the skills acquired during the previous two stages through a number of responsibilities delegated to him.
On another front, the Fund has been active in attempting to solve the country’s housing shortage by issuing bonds to the tune of KD100 million every year for five years in favor of the Credit Bank of Kuwait and setting aside 25 percent of the Fund’s profits every year for infrastructure projects in the country.
The Fund also supports and encourages the private sector in the country by giving preference to Kuwaiti companies in the execution of projects financed by it. In addition, the Fund encourages Kuwaiti and foreign companies associated with it to use local materials and products, as well as obliges Kuwaiti companies to use the national banking and financial services. The Fund also obtains an agreement from borrowing countries to use Kuwaiti financial institutions and services.
In another related sphere, and within the framework of supporting the Government’s policy of achieving comprehensive development of the country, the Fund financed, managed and prepared the studies related to building a new port in Boubyan Island to the north of Kuwait. The comprehensive development plan for the port incorporates a free-trade zone, a storage area and an industrial town that are expected to stimulate economic and social activities on this strategic island, which occupies nearly five percent of Kuwait’s total area. Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port on the island will also be instrumental in pushing forward the New Kuwait 2035 vision that envisages transforming Kuwait into a transport, commercial and financial hub to ensure effective economic activities in the region and beyond.
