Like most oil-rich nations, Kuwait has suffered greatly from the impact of the oil price crisis. With oil making up 90 percent of state revenues, the Kuwaiti gov- ernment has long spoken of the need to develop a sustainable and diversified economy driven by the private sector. And the fact that the oil price is not expected to return to pre-2014 levels any time soon has compelled the government to get the wheels in motion to build a non-oil-dependent economy. In January this year, the govern- ment launched ‘New Kuwait Vision 2035’, a comprehensive and ambi- tious development plan which aims to develop a prosperous and diversi- fied economy, upgrade national in- frastructure, improve the health and education systems, reform govern- ment administration and bureaucrat- ic procedures, and enhance Kuwait’s presence on the international stage. Other objectives include posi- tioning Kuwait as a global hub for the petrochemical industry, increasing foreign direct invest- ment by 300 percent, and at- tracting more than $1.3 billion for investment in IT services and re- newable energy. Taking advantage of its strategic location, Kuwait also wants to operate as a transit hub providing significant logistical support to regional trade routes. “The New Kuwait vision translates the Emir’s outlook for activating de- velopment, boosting the economy, diversifying productivity, pressing ahead with economic and financial reforms through mega-projects and the leading role by the private sector,” said the country’s prime minister, Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al- Hamad Al-Sabah. The government also wants Ku- waitis to represent 40 percent of the population by 2035, up from the cur- rent 32 percent. To do so will require investment in education and training so that Kuwaitis have the skills to take up the jobs currently filled by expatriates. Reform of the education system, under Vision 2035, aims to better prepare Kuwaiti youth to become competitive and productive members of the workforce. The public sector in Kuwait cur- rently accounts for 70 percent of GDP and employs nearly 80 percent of the total Kuwaiti workforce, high- lighting the need to build a thriving private sector-led economy. Kuwait intends to invest billions to increase the contribution of the private sec- tor to the economy, from the cur- rent 26.4 percent to more than 40 percent by 2020. Government initiatives such as the public-private partnership (PPP) program, priva- tization law, the establishment of the Kuwait National Fund for SMEs Development and the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority are aimed at increasing the share of the private sector’s contribution to GDP. The PPP program will be crucial for infrastructure development, as the government looks to tap pri- vate funding to complete a string of mega-projects, some of which have been on hold for years. Kuwait intends to spend $15.6 billion on infrastructure and other development-related projects in fis- cal year 2017-2018. The government will contribute 49.3 percent of the investments, 33.8 percent will be spent by the state-owned oil sec- tor and 16.9 percent by the private sector in a public-private sector partnership program, according to Dr. Khaled Mahdi, Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development. One of the highlight mega projects, and an integral part of ‘New Kuwait Vision 2035’, is the new terminal at Kuwait International Airport, which will be built by Turkish company Li- mak Construction at a cost of $4.2 billion. When completed in 2022, the new terminal will allow the airport to handle 25 million passengers annu- ally, triple its current capacity. Other mega projects to be under- taken to achieve the goals set out in the ‘New Kuwait Vision 2035’ include: Sabah Al-Salem University City, one of the leading educational projects in the region; the Al Zour refinery, which will produce 615,000 barrels of oil per day when complet- ed in 2019; Jaber Hospital, which will be the largest hospital in the Middle East, with 1,166 beds; and the Jaber Causeway, a $3 billion bridge that will connect Kuwait City to the new $100 billion Silk City projected urban area. New Kuwait Vision 2035 - A Future Beyond Oil ‘New Kuwait Vision 2035’, the ambitious strategy unveiled in January to diversify the economy away from oil, aims to allow a bigger and more active role for the private sector in economic development K UWAIT