ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2015
LOCAL
3
Kuwait, Gates Foundation explore
means of helping people ‘in need’
Joe Cerrell meets KFAED officials in Kuwait
The Kuwaiti delegation in Doha
KCCI participates in GCC economic forum
Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and
Industry participated in the GCC
Economic Forum titled ‘Consolidating
Participation of the GCC Private
Sector in Economic Development’,
which was held on Oct 25-26 in Doha,
Qatar.
The forum, which was organized by the
Union of GCC Chambers of Commerce
and Industry in collaboration with Qatari
Chamber of Commerce and Industry,
was held under auspices of His Highness
the Amir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin
Hamad Al-Thani.
The Kuwaiti delegation was led by the
Chairman of Kuwait Chamber of
Commerce and Industry Ali Mohammad
Thunaiyan Al-Ghanim.
KUNA Photo
Malak with the board members of IPTC
Council’s board being elected
KUNA official stresses importance
of taking part in IPTC conference
LONDON, Oct 31, (KUNA): KUNA Deputy
Director General for Administrative and
Financial Affairs and Communications
Abdulhameed Malak has underlined the significance of the agency’s participation in the
annual conference of the International Press
Telecommunications Council (IPTC) in
London.
Kuwait and Qatar were the only Arab countries eligible to attend the IPTC event, he said
on Saturday, adding that participants approved
the outcome of the council’s task teams and
affiliate committees, Malak told KUNA.
The annual event discussed modern criteria
employed in authorized communications and
software for reporting, he said.
In addition, the IPTC General Assembly
endorsed the financial and administrative
report, and elected the council’s board.
Some 22 bodies, including KUNA, took part
in the vote. Stuart Myles of the Associated
Press was elected Chairman of the IPTC Board
of Directors.
On the sidelines of the annual event, a ceremony was organized to celebrate the IPTC 50th
anniversary. It was attended by Myles and
some board members.
In addition to Malak, the ceremony was
attended by Director of Communication and IT
Adel Al-Sammak.
Separately, the KUNA Deputy Director
General and head of America’s CNN training
and marketing discussed bilateral cooperation
and making use of the CNN services in editing
and use of e-media and social networking,
Malak told KUNA.
They also agreed to carry on with contacts to
help KUNA implement its ambitious plan to
promote its staff abilities in news editing.
After the meeting, Malak toured the CNN
London Bureau, one of the key regional offices
of the leading world network.
News in Brief
MoI urges drivers to be cautious:
The Ministry of Interior urged motorists to
be cautious due to heavy rains.
In a press statement on Saturday, the ministry’s department of public relations advised
the public to use hotline (112) in case of
emergency. (KUNA)
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Various nationalities in KU hostel:
Director of Foreign Students Hostel at
Kuwait University Faleh Al-Masoud
affirmed that the foreign students in the university come from 57 various countries
across the world mostly from the GCC and
some Arab countries, reports Al-Shahed
daily.
Al-Masoud explained that the administration provides the students with accommodation and annual scholarship through the
Deanship of Admission and Registration.
The administration is committed to providing all necessary services to foreign students
for which it coordinates with all concerned
authorities to ensure their comfort and
accomplish their transactions.
He declared that the administration has
diligently dealt with some complaints from
the students regarding their meals, by changing the catering company that serves them.
Al-Masoud said he hopes the students will
reflect a positive image of Kuwait in their
respective countries, which is the reason
why regular tours are arranged for them to
visit some monuments in Kuwait.
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MPW to deal with emergency cases:
Emergency teams from the Ministry of Public
Works are deployed in all six governorates to
deal with urgent incidents that may be caused
by rain fall and unstable weather conditions,
ministry spokesman said Saturday.
Abdulmohsen Al-Enezi, also Assistant
Undersecretary for Planning and
Development, told KUNA in a statement the
ministry was coordinating with the Ministry
of Interior, Civil Defense Department and
Meteorological department to deal with any
emergency case.
He said the emergency teams were monitoring the situation in the streets. (KUNA)
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Cabinet to endorse appointments:
The Council of Ministers will endorse the
Kuwaiti pavilion ‘hails’
edu, scientific research
MILAN, Italy, Oct 31, (KUNA): Expo
Milano 2015 and the Kuwaiti pavilion in
it have demonstrated the importance of
education and scientific research in the
wise usage of natural resources for
sustained development, said a Kuwaiti
official here on Friday.
Attending a forum on the value of
research and technology and of harnessing the creative abilities of the
youth in that regard, Kuwait’s
Ambassador to Italy Sheikh Ali AlKhaled Al-Sabah told KUNA the forum
addressed the strong relation between
scientific research and creativity and
their broad applications in contemporary living.
This relation could very well be augmented through increasing partnerships between private sector technology-based companies and universities
and science institutes and research
labs, he said.
He affirmed that this tack is being followed by Kuwait and is evident in the
displays at the Kuwaiti pavilion where
scientific achievement is shown to be
highly prized.
appointment of new officials in its upcoming
meeting, reports Al-Anba daily.
Sources said the council approved amendment to the draft decree on the rules governing the recruitment of officials, and the
details will be published in the official
Gazette next Sunday with the names of new
appointees after completing the required procedures.
Meanwhile, the council approved amendment to decree No. 111/2015 regarding civil
service law 1979 and included a new article
allowing the concerned minister to nominate
at least three officials to occupy top positions.
Another article has been amended that
requires candidates vying for top position to
be a university degree holder to limit choices, excluding those with degrees equivalent
to Bachelor.
KUWAIT CITY, Oct
31, (KUNA): Bill and
Melinda
Gates
Foundation and State
of Kuwait are exploring ways of collaborating to help impoverished and sick people
in different parts of the
globe, areas in which
both sides are already
active.
Joe Cerrell, Managing
Director of Global Policy and
Advocacy at the Foundation,
visited Kuwait on Wednesday
this week and met with officials from Kuwait Fund for
Arab Economic Development
(KFAED) to discuss how the
two sides could collaborate in
areas of common interest.
The discussions aimed at “trying to understand where their
(KFAED) areas of common
interest ... like global health or
food security, where the common
areas (of two sides’) overlap that
we could ... collaborate further in
future, “ Cerrell said in a statement to KUNA.
He said his visit was an opportunity to meet with KFAED officials, get acquainted with the
way they work and their current
priorities in order to explore preliminary opportunities “where
we might work together.” Cerrell
said the Foundation was focusing
on overseas development assistant which was about USD 135140 billion in value coming from
25-30 donors from around the
world.
However, he added, the make
up of this assistance was changing because grants were declining with more organizations now
either thinking of giving loans or
mixing loans with donations, the
latter known as blended finance.
Cerrell’s visit to Kuwait aims
at exploring how the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation,
which mainly gives grants, “can
work with entities like Kuwait
Fund which is mainly a lending
entity on how we might work
together using our respective
strengths to support projects of
mutual interests,” he said.
“There is a genuine sense of
interest on both sides to think
about areas where we might
work together,” he added.
One of the areas the
Foundation is looking forward to
get more partners on board is the
Lives and Livelihoods Fund, an
ambitious USD 2.5 billion project officially co-launched last
June by the Foundation and the
Islamic Development Bank
(IDB), each contributing USD
100 million to the USD 500 million
grant
facility. The
Foundation is “looking for other
donors to contribute,” Cerrell
said.
During the launch of the fund,
which took place place in
Maputo, Mozambique, IDB
President
Dr.
Ahmad
Mohammad Ali said said the
USD 500 million from the fund
would be deployed alongside
USD two billion from IDB, in
which Kuwait is a member, to
scale-up support to pro-poor programs in IBD member countries
over five years.
The fund, Cerrell explained,
was one of those blended finance
facility which was “a fantastic
way to provide funding” for projects in health, disease control,
agriculture and basic rural infrastructure in IDB member countries.
“We think it might be of interest in Kuwait. We are very excited about this instrument (fund) ...
that might bring in more donors
like Kuwait to support more
projects we care about,” said
Cerrell.
Cerrel, meanwhile, met with
officials from Kuwait Red
Crescent Society (KRSC) which
he said was carring out “impressive projects” in many areas,
mainly disaster relief, a field The
Gates foundation supported.
He met with officials from
Kuwait
Foundation
for
Advancement
of
Science
(KFAS) to follow up on the late
Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Sumait
Prize, which was announced by
His Highness the Amir Sheikh
Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah during the 3rd AfricanArab Summit, held in Kuwait
late 2014.
The 2015 subject of the USD
one million Prize, in honor of the
late Al-Sumait for his endless
philanthropic contributions in
African, is health.
Bill Gates is a member in the
Board of Trustees of Dr.
Abdulrahman Al-Sumait Prize.
Cerrell, on the other hand, said
the foundation contributed extensively to the 17 Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs),
which were adopted by world
leaders during the Sustainable
Development Summit in New
York, US, last month.
He said technical teams from the
foundation were heavily engaged
in the SDGs, primarily health,
hunger and agriculture areas.
Photos by Rizk Taufiq
Above: some photos from the marathon organized by EPA
Marathon spreads awareness about new environmental laws
Environment Public Authority (EPA)
organized a marathon on Friday for
spreading awareness about the
new environmental laws. The
marathon started from the Kuwait
Graduates Society and ended at
the Kuwait Towers. The Filipino
community of Kuwait and Kuwait
Society for the Disabled participat-
ed in the marathon.
During the event, EPA distributed
pamphlets and gave a lecture on
the importance of abiding by the
Kuwaiti environmental laws.
Public Relations Director at EPA
Dr Khalid Al-Enezi said the
marathon was aimed to spread
awareness to the people of Kuwait
about the importance of applying
laws for the protection of the environment.
He appreciated the role played
by Ministry of Interior represented
by General Traffic Department and
Public Security Department, Kuwait
Red Crescent Society and Ministry
of Health in this regard.