In an effort to diversify its economy and play a larger role in international trade, Kuwait has reached a $4.1 billion agreement with China to finish building a major port.
“The engineering, procurement, and construction contract to complete the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port project will cost 1.28 billion Kuwaiti dinars ($4.164 billion)” according to a statement released on Monday by the State Audit Bureau, a government oversight organization in charge of keeping an eye on public funds.
Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah attended the “ceremony for inking the engineering-supply-construction contract for building Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port on Boubyan island,” state media reported.
He said the key project would “enhance Kuwait’s share in the regional and international trade and global supply chain”.
Chinese acting charge d’affaires Liu Xiang said the deal “constitutes participation in the ‘belt and road’ initiative”.
Kuwait and China signed seven memorandums of understanding in 2023 on housing, water treatment, renewable energy, and the Mubarak al-Kabeer Port.
As part of its Belt and Road Initiative, a massive international infrastructure project created over the past ten years under President Xi Jinping, China has been concentrating on the Middle East.
