KUWAIT: Kuwait Municipality is working closely with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MCI), the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) to simplify and expedite the issuing of commercial licenses, said a senior municipality official on Thursday. Ahmad Al-Manfouhi, the Assistant Director General of the municipality, said that the various government bodies are determined to improve Kuwait's status in terms of business performance, adding that the country currently occupies an unenviable 141st place globally out of 180 nations in terms of business performance, according to figures issued by the World Bank for 2010.

The various concerned government bodies have already held several meetings to identify suitable mechanisms to expedite the issuing of commercial licenses in order to help turn Kuwaiti into a business and commercial center that will prove attractive to investors and entrepreneurs, Al-Manfouhi explained.

The various steps currently being taken by the government bodies should help to elevate Kuwait's status in the World Bank's next annual commercial activities report, the official added, explaining that the state bodies have already implemented a two-part policy to achieve this objective.

The first part of this strategy involved the publication of a ministerial directive ordering all municipality branches to ensure that all enquiries from the MCI on new commercial licenses will receive a response within three working days, so long as all the necessary documents are attached with the applications, the official explained. He also revealed that municipality communications officers have been nominated to liaise regularly with MCI staff without the need for correspondence to ensure that delays a
nd obstacles are minimized and dealt with as quickly as possible.

The second phase of the new policy sees the joint team of officials from the various bodies collating the available information on shops, offices and other commercial establishments, with the municipality's information and development division set to establish an automatic license renewal system allowing business owners to renew their licenses without having to submit lengthy applications to the municipality offices. Once the design of the system is complete, the project will be submitted to the Minister o
f Municipal Affairs for approval before it is implemented. It's hoped that the new policy will see the time taken for commercial licenses to be issued being reduced by at least ten days, Al-Manfouhi revealed.

Meanwhile, delegates from Kuwait Municipality and a number of local council offices have participated in three recent regional and international conferences organized by the Arab Towns Organization (ATO) in cooperation with its regional and international partners. Municipality director Ahmad Al-Subaih lauded the Kuwaiti delegates' strong participation in the three events, saying that Kuwait's involvement in such forums demonstrates the importance of cooperation and the exchange of expertise amongst municip
al organizations globally, especially given the developmental, environmental, social and economic challenges faced by towns and cities in the modern age as they continue to grow and expand.

Staff from the municipality and a number of Kuwaiti ministries and other government bodies took part in a recent workshop on 'Safety Priorities for Continuous Growth,' which was organized by the UN Centre for Human Settlements (UN-HABITAT) in cooperation with the municipality and the ATO. The workshop focused on the link between urban growth and violence in society, looking at how expansion can adversely affect urban residents' feelings of safety, Al-Subaih explained.

The municipality chief further revealed that he had headed a delegation of officials attending the second conference of the heads of Asian municipal organizations which took part in Istanbul between March 31 and April 4 this year. The Kuwaiti delegates benefited greatly from the opportunity to exchange information with counterparts from other cities including Istanbul, Tehran, Seoul and Tokyo, said Al-Subaih, finding those officials' experience of rapid urban population movements and continuously rising urban population numbers particularly informative.

The senior municipality official said that all those attending the event in Istanbul agreed that many urban problems, including unemployment and disorganized housing construction, put a large burden on municipal bodies and posed major potential challenges for the future.

Al-Subaih stressed that urban planning plays a central role in positively changing society through enlightened policies and international partnerships. The Kuwait Municipality staff and personnel from the local council offices who attend events like these benefit greatly from the experience, said Al-Subaih, adding that another conference took place recently, the International Conference on Environmental Engineering and Technology in Agadir, Morocco, with all the delegates benefiting immensely from their attendance.

The ATO, which is set to mark the forty-fourth anniversary of its establishment on May 15, was established in 1967 with only 27 cities. Since then, it has expanded massively, with 550 Arab towns and cities now being members, and has formed partnerships with various regional and international bodies. - Agencies