KUWAIT CITY, 20 July 2003 — Kuwait’s emir opened the first session of the newly elected Parliament yesterday amid government pledges to prioritize the fight against terror and reform of the state’s economy. “I am confident that each one of you will use every possible effort to serve this country,” Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah said in a short, halting speech to the 50-seat National Assembly, which was elected in July 5 polls.
The opening session of Parliament follows the appointment of a new 15-member Cabinet by Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah on Tuesday, which brought six new faces into government and changes at the key ministries of the interior and oil.
Sheikh Sabah presented the government’s 13-point working program to the assembly, listing “security issues and the fight against terror” and revitalizing the economy as the main priorities. The government will also focus on “stimulating the national economy and activating the role of the private sector ... and safeguarding riches, notably the country’s oil riches.”
It will also task itself with finding a remedy to the “demographic imbalance” in the country and “settling the problem of illegal residents,” the premier said.
Another tough issue will be unemployment and a creeping budget deficit largely driven by a burgeoning national population seeking employment in the state-sponsored public sector.
