We will cover cuts in Egypt aid: Saud
Source: The Saudi Gazette (Read full story)
The Kingdom said on Monday that Arab and Islamic countries will step in to help Egypt if Western nations cut aid packages to Cairo. “To those who have announced they are cutting their aid to Egypt, or threatening to do that, (we say that) Arab and Muslim nations are rich with resources, and will not hesitate to help Egypt,” Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency. Prince Saud was speaking upon his return from France where he met President Francois Hollande to discuss the current situation in Egypt. Prince Saud said that the countries which slammed Egypt’s crackdown believed propaganda and assumed hostile positions toward the interests and the stability of Arab and Islamic nations.
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Plans to decrease percentage of Kuwaitis in some sectors
The Cabinet discussed Manpower and Government Restructuring Program’s (MGRP) proposal of changing the percentage of Kuwaiti employees in the private sector. The percentage was set in two timetables: one according to the commercial activity and the other according to profession. This system of percentage was created by the government a few years ago to encourage Kuwaitis to work in the private sector as there were no available vacancies in the public sector for fresh graduates. The policy was applied to big companies with a certain number of employees, and penalties were set for the violating companies which did not respect the percentage of employment.…
Kingdom remains most attractive site for foreign investment in Arab world
Source: The Saudi Gazette (Read full story)
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Foreign investment in the GCC has benefited from a combination of relatively high hydrocarbon prices, buoyant economic growth and an ambitious program of government-sponsored investment projects. The region also regularly accounts for over 50 percent of all FDI to the Arab Middle East and North Africa. FDI flows within the GCC increased in 2012, with the exception of Saudi Arabia, since it was more susceptible to the difficulties experienced by investors in accessing capital from retrenching international banks and witnessed a 25 percent decline in FDI to $12.2 billion, the report noted. However, the Kingdom remains the most attractive destination for foreign investment in the Arab world, the repot said. In the UAE and Kuwait, FDI inflows increased to $9.6 billion and $1.9 billion, respectively.
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GCC criticizes Nasrallah over Syria boasting
Source: Kuwait News Agency (Read full story)
Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Abdullatif Al-Zayyani strongly criticized the remarks made by chief of Lebanese Hezbollah faction, Hassan Nasrallah, on Friday, calling it both “contradictory” and “irresponsible.” In remarks late on Monday, the GCC official said the speech is very inappropriate. It is very irresponsible to boast of involvement in the fighting in Syria and to even go as far as promise further involvement, at a time when all is calling for restraint. “This is a flagrant interference in Syrian internal affairs and a clear breach of Syrian sovereignty,” Al-Zayyani stressed.
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Oman Shura Council opposes fuel subsidy rollback
Source: Gulf News (Read full story)
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Earlier this year, announcing the 2013 budget, Financial Affairs Ministers Darwish Bin Esmail Al Belushi said the ballooning size of subsidies, particularly in the form of funding support for the petroleum sector, was of growing concern to the government. Fuel subsidies, Al Belushi had noted then, could be better utilised for employment generation, training of Omanis, and improving the livelihoods of nationals. Cheap fuel, he also warned, had the potential to contribute to profligate consumerism, particularly where car-buying was concerned, thereby sparking a proliferation of vehicles on the roads and, inevitably, a rise in traffic accidents, which reap a heavy burden in lives and health-care costs.
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