Strategic Development Drive to Continue in 2026
The Times Kuwait Report
Start of a new year heralds a fresh beginning, symbolizing the universal message of hope, happiness, and a chance to reset. As the calendar flips from a year gone by to a new one, it urges reflection on mistakes made and lessons learned, and inspires resilience and adaptiveness to challenges. The core theme that a new year brings is to let go of past burdens and move forward with a mindset grounded in clarity, courage, and conviction to achieve one’s goals and visions.
This new year vision is also embodied in Kuwait’s plans to continue driving its ongoing development strategy through 2026. Despite global challenges, the year gone by marked an inflection point in the country’s march towards achieving its ambitious Vision 2035 national development plan.
Several measures initiated by the government over the previous year indicate a resolute intent to move ahead from years of discussions and planning to the actual execution of policies and projects. Since his historic address to the National Assembly on 20 December 2023, His Highness the Amir Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah has guided the country with a clear vision and profound wisdom along a path of prudent reforms, comprehensive development, and national solidarity, while consolidating security and stability.
His Highness has set a high priority on safeguarding national identity, promoting justice and equal opportunities, and building a state governed by strong institutions. Under his sagacious leadership, Kuwait has pursued a balanced and principled diplomatic approach based on prudence, respect for international law, and peaceful resolution of disputes, as well as strengthened relations with states that enhanced the country’s global status.
Media reports affirm that the Amiri directives have stressed responsible oversight, objective accountability, and firm legal action against misuse of public resources, all within the framework of the Constitution and the law. These directives have also emphasized improving government efficiency, modernizing systems and legislation, appointing qualified leadership, expanding digital transformation, and ensuring transparency and accountability.
Considering the importance of the economy, His Highness has prioritized development of economic and investment sectors, to achieve sustainability, improve the business environment, attract foreign investment, deepen international partnerships, and attract major global companies seen as drivers of economic growth. His Highness has also consistently called on the government to expedite major strategic projects, ensure transparency in its workings, and enhance infrastructure in various domains.
In line with the Amiri directives, the Cabinet headed by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, ramped up its efforts and measures, adopting scores of decrees and amendments to address national issues. Based on well-planned and coherent development strategies, the government has been driving the execution of policies and implementation of long-delayed vital projects crucial to realizing Vision 2035.
State media indicates that Cabinet decrees and legislative amendments issued in 2025 aim to usher in a fresh phase of radical and structural reforms, ensure sustainable economic transformation, augment developmental openness, improve workforce productivity, and broaden the scope of strategic partnerships with friendly nations to bolster economic growth and strengthen Kuwait’s influence on the global stage.
On the economic front, the Cabinet adopted new decree laws and amendments to existing economic laws, including the financing and liquidity decree-law, the bankruptcy law, and a digital trade decree-law. The digital law provides a legal framework to integrate and regulate this sector, creating equilibrium between economic freedom and regulatory control. The Cabinet also approved social and humanitarian laws, and amended the public assistance and children’s rights laws.
Furthermore, the cabinet approved the 2025-2026 annual development plan involving nine programs, 134 projects, 36 targeted policies and 38 legislative requirements, in addition to the 2025-2026 draft state budget that includes 90 new projects. Latest figures released by the General Secretariat for Planning show that government spending on development projects recorded a significant increase during the first nine months of fiscal 2025-2026, reaching KD602 million, surpassing the total expenditure of the entire previous fiscal years 2024-25 and 2023-24.
Based on current performance and implementation schedules, development spending by the end of the 2025–2026 fiscal year is expected to reach unprecedented levels, surpassing all previous records since the launch of the development plan. A major thrust in infrastructure development came with Kuwait and China recently signing an engineering, procurement and construction contract for the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port project on Bubiyan Island.
The recent surge in development spending reflects the government’s keenness to treat capital expenditure as a key driver of economic growth. The strategy also aims to strengthen the role of the private sector as a core partner in development, expand its contribution to the national economy, and enhance its absorption of young national talent, while reducing dependence on oil revenues.
Experts believe that the accelerated pace of spending also highlights a reorientation of fiscal priorities toward long-term projects with lasting economic and social impact. These approaches are expected to support fiscal sustainability, particularly with the anticipated implementation of new tax legislation that will boost non-oil revenues and enhance budget resilience, improve public services, stimulate economic activity and create productive job opportunities for citizens.
On the law and order side, the government introduced wide-ranging amendments, including to the penal code, provisions of the Kuwait Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) Law, and to laws on registration and electronic transactions. The Cabinet also approved vital anti-crime legislations, including on fighting drugs and psychotropic substances and trans-border crimes, while also strengthening international judicial cooperation.
The decree laws and amendments adopted throughout 2025 reflect a growing strategic orientation towards promotion of national identity and citizenship. In this regard, the Cabinet adopted a range of recommendations from the high-level citizenship committee, while also reviewing and addressing humanitarian aspects arising from revoked citizenship.
In particular, the Cabinet reiterated its commitment to follow up on files related to people who had acquired citizenship under the category of special services, and to foreign women who had married Kuwaitis whose citizenship had been revoked. Additionally, the Cabinet asked the Central Bank of Kuwait to instruct all banking institutions in Kuwait to maintain existing accounts and facilitate opening of new ones, for those with revoked citizenship under the above categories.
In foreign affairs, Kuwait reinforced its international influence by inking dozens of agreements and memoranda of understanding during 2025. These bilateral and multilateral documents indicated the country’s growing ambition to widen its network of strategic partnerships with friendly countries, and strengthen international openness as a core pillar to support its national development plans.
On the regional front, Kuwait, which held the rotating Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) presidency in 2025, worked towards reaching breakthroughs in joint Gulf action, advancing GCC integration, strengthening regional security, and boosting the Council’s status at regional and international levels. The GCC under Kuwait’s presidency also participated in the GCC-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and the trilateral GCC-ASEAN-China Summit, held in Kuala Lumpur on May 27, as part of efforts to strengthen Gulf-Asian cooperation. Additionally, as the GCC chair in 2025, Kuwait hosted on 6 October the 29th GCC-EU Joint Council and Ministerial Meeting, along with the Dialogue and Security Conference between the two sides on 5–6 October.
These meetings aimed to advance strategic partnership in various fields. Kuwait ended 2025 with the hand-over of the Gulf Cooperation Council presidency to the Kingdom of Bahrain. Throughout the year gone by, the government accelerated execution of mega development projects in infrastructure and utilities, introduced financial and economic reforms, empowered human resources, improved logistical services, while simultaneously enhancing governance and efficiency of government performance. These positive initiatives are set to continue and drive the country forward in 2026.
