Kuwait announces $200m tech fund
Source: Arab Times
Kuwait has launched an initiative to form a $200 million fund for investments in technology, Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah said on Sunday.
“primary concern,” the Kuwaiti minister, who is His Highness the Kuwaiti Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s representative for the talks, described the initiative as a step towards embracing a digital economy. He mentioned that His Highness the Amir created a fund to prop up small enterprises in the Arab region back in 2009, with Kuwait contributing a share of $500 million.
The fund has helped save some 437,000 jobs in the region, while it financed more than 7,000 Arab-made development projects, which shows His Highness the Amir of Kuwait’s vision of investing in “valuable youth power”. Given their “intertwined fates,” he spoke of the “close rapport” that Arab nations have forged over the years, having held talks on a regular basis in a bid to attain prosperity and development.
Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled renewed his appreciation and trust in the business agenda of the summit, thanking Lebanese President Michel Aoun for his hospitality and support. Michel Aoun on Sunday called for adopting an Arab reconstruction and development initiative by creating an inter-Arab bank. Addressing the Arab economic and development summit held in Beirut, the Lebanese President said the initiative aims at helping all affected Arab countries and people.
“I hereby put forth my initiative aimed at adopting the strategy of reconstruction for development, calling to set up efficient mechanisms that live up to these challenges and to the requirements of reconstruction, on top of which the establishment of an Arab Bank for Reconstruction and Development,” he said.
