Embassy of the Republic of Korea to the State of Kuwait

Thursday/ 10 June 2010

Kuwait External Affairs

GCC Secretary General discusses free trade agreement between GCC states and South Korea 
Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Abdulrahman Al-Attiyah concluded a two-day official visit to Seoul. During the visit, Al-Attiyah met with South Korea's Prime Minister Chung Un-chan, Foreign Affairs Minister Yu Myung-hwan, and Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon. He discussed with the Korean officials developing political and economic ties and ways to increase cooperation. They also discussed the negotiations between the GCC states and South Korea on the free trade agreement. Al-Attiyah stressed that the agreement would develop economic and trade relations between the two sides. He said the two sides did not yet agree on the issue of goods and that more negotiations about it were needed. He pointed out that the two sides had similar stances regarding regional and international issues, expressing hope that South Korea would be more supportive to Arab causes, especially the Palestinian cause.(All Newspapers)

Kuwait Domestic Affairs

Al-Kharafi starts mediation between government and National Action bloc over grilling threats against PM
Parliamentary sources mentioned that the National Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Kharafi in now involved in mediation efforts between the government and members of the National Action Bloc over the latter’s threat to quiz the Prime Minister over failure to apply sport laws. The sources said that Al-Kharafi held indirect negotiations between the two sides yesterday in a bid to find an exit to the sport crisis and avoid filing a new interpellation against the premier. Informed sources revealed that two separate meetings convened on Wednesday following the Parliament's session has resulted in the postponement of a grilling motion that the National Action bloc plans to file against him over sports. The first meeting was attended by Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser, Deputy Premier Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahd, Minister Mohammed Al-Busairi as well the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Mohammed Al-Ifasi. The second meeting was with members of the National Action Bloc. However, the two members mainly concerned with the sports file, Saleh Al-Mulla and Marzouq Al-Ghanim, did not attend the meeting. Parliamentary sources have revealed that the bloc has decided to wait a bit at the request of the Parliament speaker. Participants in the two meetings refused to comment to reporters on the outcomes of the main points of agreements. However, Alaan e-newspaper said the main point of the agreement was that Sheikh Talal, the current chairman of Kuwait Football Association, to step down from the post and a temporary committee to be formed headed by Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahd. The National Assembly will then amend the local laws related to sports in order to make them meet with the international conventions. The e-newspaper said this proposal might be rejected by a number of MPs.  Other sources said that Al-Kharafi is preparing for a meeting between both sides in order to find appropriate legal solutions to the crisis away from media spotlight. The sources said the government expressed readiness to tackles the sports issue without any escalation and asked Al-Kharafi to convey its desire to the lawmakers of the National Action Bloc. Al-Kharafi will meet with members on Parliament's Youth and Sports Committee as well as the lawmakers of the National Action Bloc to inform them of the of government's desire and to discuss the possible solutions to the crisis. The sources expressed confident in the Speaker's ability to succeed in his efforts to end the tension, especially that Al-Kharafi enjoys the respect of all concerned parties.(Al-Seyassah)

Economy

Kuwait tightens control on investment firms
Kuwait's central bank has tightened control on borrowing in the country's investment sector and given companies two years to comply. The central bank governor, Sheik Salem Abdul-Aziz al-Sabah stated that a revision of the regulator's policies showed the need for new controls on financial leverage, liquidity and international borrowing. He said the global financial crisis uncovered weaknesses in risk and asset management in some of the country's investment companies. Kuwaiti investment houses were hard hit during the crisis, which prompted the government of the world's fourth-largest oil exporter to approve a rescue package worth 1.5 billion dinars ($5.12 billion) last year. The governor said investment companies will have until mid 2012 to comply with the new rules. He said measures will be taken against companies that don't show progress in applying them. He did not elaborate.(All Newspapers)

New taxes and fees within two years
The Government has initiated a study to ascertain the feasibility in the preparation of a new tax system that will be applied to private institution and companies. The step aims at raising the government non-petroleum revenues up to four billion Kuwaiti dinars. The new system will include imposing a comprehensive income tax, a value added tax and added cost fees on companies and institutions that benefit from various governmental services. The government discussed the significance of tax in society and explained the tax laws that are applied in Kuwait as well as techniques for collecting them. Meanwhile, a government source disclosed that the comprehensive tax law will be adopted within the next two years along with other economic and legislative laws that are expected to support the country's development plans. On the other hand, the ministerial economic committee decided, in its last meeting that was headed by the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Minister of State for Development Affairs and Minister of State for Housing Affairs Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, that Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) regulations should be amended in order to contribute in boosting the developmental plan.(Al-Watan)

Al-Busairi: Lowering call rates among Gulf states 
The Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and the Minister of Communication Dr. Mohammad Al-Busairi on Wednesday said that Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will start dropping the price rates of the calls made within the region beginning next September. He added that the price of roaming service will be re-priced in which the call fees will be discounted per-second not per-minute, as it is in the current system. Al-Busairi said in a statement to the press, after concluding the final session of the GCC ministerial committee meeting for ministers of post and communication affairs, that there is a governmental plan aimed at establishing an authority for communication and the project will be adopted after getting the final approval from the Fatwa and Legislation Committee. He disclosed that the service option for transferring mobile phone numbers from a communication company into another - without changing the number- will be applied before the end of the current year. This step will allow subscribers who want to keep the same phone number and changing the company to do that smoothly.(All Newspapers)

International News

• The Security Council on Wednesday imposed new sanctions and tightened existing ones on Iran over its nuclear programme, and warned of "further appropriate measures" if the IAEA reports in three months that Tehran is still refusing to halt uranium enrichment activities in violation of UN resolutions.
• Iranian atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said that "Iran will answer their questions after studying their letters in detail." Responding to the UN Security Council decision to slap a fourth set of sanctions on Iran, Tehran's envoy to the IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh said the Islamic republic would not halt its uranium enrichment activities
• North Korea said Wednesday it has sent a letter to the UN Security Council to urge a new probe into the sinking of a South Korean warship in March, warning of "serious" consequences if punishment against Pyongyang is discussed.
• Al-Anba newspaper is quoting informed sources that that contacts made by the outgoing Iraqi Prime Minister in order to receive the support to enable him head the next cabinet have failed. The sources asserted that there is understanding between Turkey, Syria and Iran on rejecting both Nouri Al-Maliki and Iyyad Alawi as next prime minister of Iraq.