New business law aims to speed up economic development

Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for Legal Affairs Dr. Mansour Al-Saeed said Monday the government is keen on promoting the economic development and expanding cooperation with the research centers to realize the targets of the development plan Kuwait is a free economy that depends on both public and private sectors, he said in an address to the first conference on the new business law on behalf of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce and Industry Abdulmohsen Al-Madaj. "The government attaches great importance to the role of the private sector in pushing forward economic development in the framework of the vision of His Highness the Amir for transforming the country into a leading regional financial and commercial hub, domesticating capital and creating an investment-friendly atmosphere," he affirmed. On the new business law, Al-Saeed said it allows for the first time the establishment of civil non-profit companies and cuts the red tape sharply. It facilitates the founding procedures for companies and the amendment of their contracts through one agency called "the single window" that has representatives of all relevant state bodies, he pointed out. "The law aims to keep pace with the technological and communication innovations as it provides that a company has to keep its founding contract available on its website and that a supervisory authority should be formed to oversee of corporate activities with Sharia (the Islamic law)," Al-Saeed added. Meanwhile, Loay Al-Kharafi, head of Loay Jassem Al-Kharafi Office for Legal Consultancy - the sponsor of the conference, said the remarkable development of the economic life in Kuwait in the recent years required amending and modernizing the corporate law. "The new business law is a great stride towards revitalizing the economic development and keeping pace with the state tendency towards turning Kuwait into an international financial and economic hub," Al-Kharafi pointed out. On his part, Deputy Chairman of Kuwaiti Lawyers Association (KLA) Abdulrahman Al-Barrak said the fact that the old business law dates 60 years ago and witnessed several amendments shows the urgent need of a new modern law. "To accommodate the changes of the time and the accelerated innovations in the commercial and corporate fields necessitate the development of new legislations such as the new business law No 25 for 2012," Al-Barrak pointed out. The three-day conference debates the various aspects of the new law including the provisions on the one-person company, the non-profit company, the corporate governance, and the legal status of holding companies.