Kuwait Assembly Speaker discusses multiple issues regarding

[Stillw8n]

Kuwait Assembly Speaker discusses multiple issues regarding Kuwait including Iraq

Speaker calls for cooperation to tackle problems .. corruption should be faced through judiciary

Speaker of the National Assembly Jassem Al-Kharafi, addressing the inauguration of the 4th session of the 13th legislative term KUWAIT, Oct 25 (KUNA) — Speaker of the National Assembly Jassem Al-Kharafi, addressing the inauguration of the 4th session of the 13th legislative term of the National Assembly on Tuesday, emphasized that tackling national economic and political problems could only be achieved with constructive cooperation between the legislators and executives and stressed that corruption must be faced by resorting to the judicial authorities, not with sensational rhetoric that is harmful to the national unity.

Among the crucial points of his address was a call on Iraq to stop making threats against Kuwait over the strategic Mubarak Al-Kabeer port project. He also voiced concern at forecast impact of the global financial crisis on the national economy and urged activists revolting against their regimes in some Arab countries to seek to restore stability rapidly.

Al-Kharafi expressed deep appreciation to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah for attending the opening session of the new term. The speaker expressed optimism for the presence of Their Highness and hoped that the opening session would signal start “of a new and blessed process” for the parliament.

The speaker, who noted that HH the Amir affirmed that the Arab and Muslim nations lost one of their eminent and good leaders, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz, expressed in this respect condolences to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, HH the Amir, the Kuwaiti people, the Arab and Muslim nations.

Al-Kharafi voiced hope that the “Arab spring” events, that reflected great desire among the peoples of the nation for taking the path toward democracy and freedoms, would lead to development, prosperity and progress. However, he stated, “We hope that the Arab peoples involved in these activities be cautious and abstain from making excessive demands and work rapidly to end the situation of chaos, restore stability, start a new phase of construction and act to lay new basis for enlightened, rational and non-destructive political practice, fruits of which to be reaped by the Arab nation.”

Affirming that Kuwait is being affected with the events in the Arab world, Al-Kharafi called for reforms and development at various levels. “This would warrant speedy action to tackle the deviations and the flaws in our practice of democracy,” he said.

The speaker expressed regret at the prevailing rhetoric of “self-whipping,” when addressing “our problems, with the tendency of “generalizing the negative words of defamation, a rhetoric that is harmful to our society and the image of our country in the eyes of the world and disrupts our ability to view matters correctly and positively and our capacities to tackle our conditions.

“We should be vigilant vis a vis the sources of incitement and intransigence, particularly from those who use national interests as a pretext to serve their personal interests and aspirations.”

Realizing development, establishing genuine democracy and combating corruption “cannot be achieved through such an approach of self-whipping, dissension, disputes, rhetorical threats, breaking the laws and defying the constitutional institutions, he said, urging the lawmakers and the executives to set an example to be followed with regard of the practice of democracy, holding rational and constructive dialogue, setting national priorities and adopting a national policy where the national interests are placed on top of all other considerations.

Such a national responsibility should be shouldered by both the legislative and executive authorities, Al-Kharafi stressed, noting that the parliament should transform “the political interpellation into a means for reforms, not making threats.”

He called on the government to be ready to react to activation of the parliamentary supervision means,” work out a platform “that could rise to the level of challenges” and develop its institutions and apparatuses for the implementation of the development plan.

At the economic level, Al-Kharafi indicated that the global negative economic conditions might lead to
recession “and this might result in enormous difficulties for the developing states in general and us in particular.”

Despite the positive indications in the national economy and surplus of income and hike of the share of the non-oil sectors in the gross domestic product, “We should not be complacent, for the high oil returns were posted as a result of conditions of the international oil markets and these conditions might not exist in the future.”

Noting that the national economic consultative commission had been formed in line with guidelines of HH the Amir, who expressed deep concern at the defects in the structure of the national economy, the speaker called on the government to take the recommendations of the committee, seriously, into consideration in terms of implementation and follow-up.

Moreover, the speaker urged the parliament and the government to coordinate to act quickly and work out a plan for economic and financial reforms, focusing on tackling the shortcomings. He also called for upgrading the national economic institutions, enhancing auditing as well as trimming expenditure, improving the investment atmosphere and speeding up the execution of the development schemes.

Among the urgent matters that must be addressed is “the necessity of taking measures to salvage the
finance market,” he said, cautioning that the Kuwait Stock Exchange might be affected with the fallouts of the international financial crisis.

Economic reforms must be coupled with political reforms, he said, stressing that the major national problems could only be resolved through cooperation, stability, democratic dialogue, constructive political action and placing the national interest above all other priorities and considerations.

He affirmed the necessity to uproot “the hateful corruption,” however this cannot be done through making random accusations, doubting persons’ integrity “with media and electoral rhetoric” with lack of non-controversial evidences and authentic statements. “Facing the corruption must be done through the judicial authority which we respect and trust,” he stressed.

Disagreements regarding the various national issues must be tackled within the frameworks of the institutions, constitutional rules and the governing regulation. “This is the objective of the democratic system,” he said, warning that disagreements among the MPs must not develop into national disarrays. “It’s high time that every body shows keenness on boosting the democratic dialogue, rise above trivial matters, refrain from contradictions and using harmful terms against each others that might create frictions in our social relationships,” Al-Kharafi said.

Switching to other matters, Al-Kharafi vowed that the chairmanship of the assembly would be impartial in running state affairs according to the laws and the parliament by-laws.

He said the parliament should continue to play a role on the external front for sake of supporting the national interests, bolster Kuwait’s regional and international status, noting the standing policy of maintaining good neighborliness ties with states of the region and maintaining “balanced external ties based on mutual respect with abstention from meddling in the others’ internal affairs, respecting sovereignty, resolutions and options of other nations.”

He also affirmed keenness on maintaining close relations with the brotherly member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council “that constitute strategic, security, economic backing for us,” also vowing to continue the efforts for boosting the cooperation with the GCC countries.

On the Middle East, he called on the international community to help the Palestinians end the Israeli occupation of their territories and recognize the independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. He also urged the Palestinians to make national conciliation “for this is the sole path for them to attain their legitimate rights, build their independent state and react to the Israeli practices that aborted the peace process.”

Regarding neighboring Iraq, the speaker acknowledged the desire to maintain brotherly ties with Iraq, noting that Kuwait is looking forward to bolstering its ties with the neighboring state. Construction of Mubarak Al-Kabeer port does not contradict with this approach for the project “is based on considerations related to the national sovereignty, economic and technical factors. This is a Kuwaiti port on a Kuwaiti territory.”

He called on the Iraqis, in case they have any reservations regarding the port project, to express their views within the framework of the joint committee, “not with irresponsible rhetoric and unacceptable threats.”

“Let the brothers in Iraq rest assured that Kuwait accepts no harm to Iraq as a result of this project,” he stressed.

In conclusion of the address, the speaker praised HH the Amir’s continuous efforts for placing Kuwait at a high status on the international arena, his keenness on maintaining the democratic-constitutional system and devotion for the homeland.

He re-thanked Their Highness the Amir and the Crown Prince for their presence and expressed identical sentiments for all attendees.

http://bit.ly/v2xnUU