Khalid, Where Have You Been

My relationship with the Ministry of Commerce started when the first commercial licence was issued to me for a General Trading and Contracting Co in 1968, half a century ago and the rent receipt was issued to me by the late Fahd Al-Sultan for an office located in one of the buildings on the Fahd Al-Salem Street.

My relationship with both sons of Al-Sultan and the Ministry of Commerce has continued since that date. It was a beautiful relationship with the first party, but was plagued with tension, delay and procrastination with the other because of the failure of the work system and mismanagement by some of the ministers and undersecretaries.

When I look at the names of many of them and I remember their faces, I feel sad especially those who have left the ministry in a miserable condition unlike how this government institution was when they had taken their posts. Only a few did not do anything despite the sincerity of their intentions because the circumstances were unfavorable and against them and did not remain in office long.

The current Minister of Commerce, Khalid Nasser Al-Roudhan is seen as a pioneer among the ministers of Commerce. This man could remain in office and use his authority to develop his own business and get out of the ministry with his head high three or four years later, without doing anything as most of his predecessors.

He could have put finishing touches here and there, satisfied himself and shown the prime minister that he has done something.

However, to be honest, I say this and my relationship with the man is simple although I hardly know him. He never stops renewing and developing the work especially in the Public Authority for Industry.

For the first time, the Ministry of Commerce has taken the lead in developing and diversifying the economy of the country in spite of all the difficulties and shortcomings.

At least there are those who work, and want to develop and seek change for the better and only those who make mistakes and vice versa.

I – like many others – was suffering from problems with registering a particular brand which took almost a year. Now the process can be completed in just half an hour online by pressing a few buttons on the computer keyboard. This is in addition to paying the fees, receiving the receipt and then getting it published in the official Gazette and waiting for some time to ensure there is no objection from any source for the trademark that is being used.

Companies of the same size as ours hold meetings without the ridiculous old and false interfering guardianship of the ministry. I have already been issued commercial licenses within a few days which sometimes took months to complete, all through the Kuwait Business Center.

The development that I have felt and experienced personally in the PAI is indeed unprecedented that I never dreamed of. The mechanization has facilitated many things on the references of industrialists, craftsmen, store owners and others.

The achievements of this man will remain, and we hope he will continue in his development program. The ministry still needs to do a lot of things, and he may be the best to bear such responsibility to accomplish what he has begun.

Note:

We thank the Minister of Commerce for his courageous and humane decision to appoint Ibrahim Al-Kandari, a citizen with severe physical disabilities, as Director-General of the National Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), a long-awaited and worthy decision for this category and worthy efficiency.

 

SOURCE : ARABTIMES

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