Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development: Projects, Highlights, and Changes

“55 years is a long time. So if you look at it from the beginning, we started with Arab countries and then moved on to non-Arab countries in Africa and Asia. You know what happened with the Arab Spring in different countries such as Syria, amongst others, where Kuwait Fund started with developmental aid, particularly in terms of building physical projects to enhance the economies of countries that we support,” says Abdulwahab Al-Bader, Director General of Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development.

“Because of what is happening around us, we have maintained what we provide in terms of loans and assistance to the normal programs, but we have had to give more through grants to support some of the emerging needs, especially in Syria, in addition to Kuwait pledges towards Syria. I think that is one of the biggest changes that have occurred and I hope that it won’t continue because it is better to use the resources we have and our efforts to support planned development, not emergency aid. Of course, one of the changes is more involvement in social projects, in health and education, wherever it is requested, and given priority by recipient countries.”