Kuwait city: Integrated government action linking economic diplomacy with strategic partners and a comprehensive system of internal reforms are driving the significant transformation in major project development in Kuwait. This transformation reflects a clear vision to improve performance efficiency, enhance transparency, and accelerate implementation.
According to Kuwait News Agency, the strategic plans aim at diversifying income, developing infrastructure, and achieving sustainable development in line with the New Kuwait 2035 Vision. The government's steps include a connection between recent legislative and regulatory reforms, expanding strategic development partnerships, efforts to accelerate major projects, and encouraging economic indicators.
A key component of this growing momentum is a Ministerial Committee for Monitoring Agreements with China, which has held 22 meetings outlining four main tracks to boost economic development. These include accelerating coordination and consultations with China, increasing technical teams' visits, removing obstacles facing projects, setting plans and priorities, and supporting ministries and government agencies responsible for implementing memoranda of understanding (MoUs).
Notable progress has been made in the implementation of the strategic Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port project, based on an MoU with China, leading up to the signing of the execution contract last March. In the field of environmental infrastructure, the government is reviewing a detailed report prepared by a Chinese delegation, which includes an action plan for bilateral cooperation in land reclamation and discusses implementation plans for projects to develop and rehabilitate ecosystems, expand afforestation programs, protect the environment, and combat sand encroachment.
Kuwait has also enhanced its international partnerships by elevating its historic relationship with Japan to a comprehensive strategic partnership, aiming to deepen development and economic cooperation between the two countries. This partnership intends to solidify across all economic, trade, investment, renewable energy, and petrochemical sectors.
One of the prominent projects is the second and third phases of the Al-Zour North Power Plant, one of the country's largest electricity projects. It aims to meet the growing demand for power and water while providing infrastructure for development projects. This project encourages private sector participation, leveraging its expertise to reduce the costs of building and operating power stations, accelerate completion, and optimize the use of natural resources.
To ensure efficient project implementation, the government is recording all projects and contracts across ministries and agencies, preparing detailed lists of ongoing construction projects and related contracts, in addition to future projects, to monitor implementation mechanisms on the ground. This step aims to create an accurate database that enables decision-makers to assess actual performance, ensure proper coordination among entities, and avoid overlapping responsibilities or duplication.
The government follows a unified methodology for integrating projects and initiatives into strategic plans. This includes phased goals with timelines, measurable key performance indicators, and the identification of relevant coordinating entities. Adopting new financing initiatives to support and implement major projects is also a core pillar of the government's strategy, particularly in energy, transportation, infrastructure, smart cities, and industrial zones.
The government aims to reduce the burden on the public budget by around 30 percent, attract private and foreign investments worth up to 10 billion Kuwaiti dinars, generate annual revenues of KD one billion by 2030, and create more than 50,000 job opportunities. Legislative and regulatory reforms have been implemented to support economic reforms, including a real estate brokerage system, a smart licensing project, amendments to the Companies Law, a project for taxation of multinational groups, and launching the first steps of the Real Estate Developer System.
Kuwait launched the second part of the third phase of the Capital Market Development Program, one of the strategic projects of the Capital Markets Authority included in the state's development plan. It aims to build the regulatory and infrastructure framework necessary for upgrading Kuwait to be among advanced emerging markets and to strengthen both local and international investor confidence.
International institutions have recognized these integrated efforts. The World Bank forecasts Kuwait's economic growth will rebound significantly to 2.2 percent in 2025, driven by the gradual lifting of production caps by OPEC+, expansion in non-oil sectors supported by credit growth, and major infrastructure projects. The World Bank's report projects that economic growth would remain stable at 2.7 percent during 2026-27, depending on successful implementation of structural reforms and efforts to diversify economic activity.
S and P Global Ratings predicted continued economic growth due to reforms, while EFG Hermes noted significant improvements in decision-making, focusing on government projects and key laws. Hermes also predicted that this environment would support credit growth in the banking sector for several years and raised its forecast for overall banking sector growth starting from 2026.
Kuwait's annual development plan for 2025-26 includes an unprecedented number of construction projects, with 69 under the budgets of ministries and government departments, 21 for affiliated entities, and 34 for independent institutions. Kuwait signed several MoUs with China in 2023, covering various sectors including the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port project, electricity, housing development, wastewater treatment, free zones, economic zones, renewable energy projects, and collaboration on a low-carbon green system for waste recycling.