Kuwait participates in WASD 9th conference in New Jersey

Kuwait is taking part in the 9th conference of the World Association for Sustainable Development (WASD) which kicked off in this US city on Wednesday -- against the background of strides on this arena at home and His Highness the Amir's personal concern for aiding youth enterprises.Dr. Hanadi Mubarak Al-Mubaraki is representing Kuwait in this event, considering that WASD activities include organizing forums to enlighten academics, researchers and decision makers around the world on the role of science and technology in the developmental process. It is also involved in organizing developmental economic and technological projects, she said. The conference will discuss proposals on means of enhancing various aspects of scientific cooperation between the developing and developed countries, besides exchange of expertise. The participants will also tackle reasons of brain drain from the developing countries and newly emerging economies.Dr. Al-Mubaraki will present two work papers, under the titles, "Global perspective of the strategic benefits of business incubators" and "The European applications of the business incubators." She will present a historic review of the various kinds of business incubators, their strategic benefits, geographical variation besides the international indicators.The US has 1,300 programs in this field. The UK has 300, France 150, the Middle East and Arabian Gulf countries have only around 12, Asia has 1,000 programs and Europe 900. The total number these programs worldwide stands at 7, 500.The conference discusses factors contributing in economic progress in new international programs, like the business incubators, bedsides lessons to be learnt from the developed countries in this field, she said.She praised the role of his Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah in supporting such programs through his leading developmental initiative.His Highness the Amir reflected this care through the financial support of USD 500 million, granted for a special Arab fund for encouraging small enterprises, during the Arab economic summit, held in Kuwait in 2009. Saudi Arabia offered USD 500 million for this fund, aimed at encouraging Arab youths launch small enterprises.This indicates the regional states' keenness on shoring up their economies, which is the main factor of these countries' infrastructure, she added.The 30th Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit, held in Kuwait in 2009, called in its final statement for supporting the economic infrastructures of the GCC member states to implement developmental programs and projects.