Cabinet okays new army chief of staff, amends sports law

KUWAIT, Oct 20 (KUNA) -- The cabinet, in its weekly meeting held at Seif Palace Monday, approved the appointment of a new chief of staff for the Kuwaiti army and the amendment of sports bodies law.
Upon a recommendation from the Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah, the cabinet endorsed the appointment of Lieutenant General Mohammad Khaled Al-Kheder as a new chief of staff of the Kuwaiti Army, said Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Acting Minister of Justice Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah following the cabinet meeting, headed by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.
Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah pointed out that the cabinet also discussed and approved a draft law amending sports bodies law No. 42 of 1978 to address the loopholes emerged in the application of the current law in the past years.
The new bill was referred to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to approve and send it to the National Assembly for deliberations and approval.
The cabinet also reviewed the follow-up reports of the General Secretariat of the Supreme Council of Planning and Development on FY 2012/2013 and the first half of FY 2013/2014.
In this regard, Minister of Social Affairs and Law and Minister of State for Planning and Development Affairs Hend Al-Sabeeh made a presentation about the main points in the reports, especially the evaluation of the pace of work at the mega development projects and the challenges facing the development plans and role of each government body to overcome such challenges.
Earlier, the cabinet was briefed on letters addressed to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah from Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, French President Francois Hollande and Central African Republic's Interim President Catherine Samba-Panza. The letters have focused on bilateral relations and means to boost them.
The cabinet was apprised of a letter sent to His Highness the Amir from Turkish President and Chairman of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)'s Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC) Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The letter included an invitation to His Highness the Amir to attend the 30th session of COMCEC, to be hosted by Istanbul next month.
The cabinet was also briefed about a letter addressed to His Highness the Amir by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. In his letter, the UN chief invited His Highness Amir to attend the 3rd World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in 2015 in Japan.
For his part, First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah informed the cabinet about the outcome of his visit to Iraq ahead of an Arab League delegation Sunday and the talks he held with Iraqi President Fuad Al-Masum and other senior officials.
Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled also informed the cabinet about the deliberations and outcome of the fourth Gulf Cooperation Council-UK strategic dialogue meeting which was held in Kuwait last week.
The cabinet discussed the latest regional and international political developments. (end) ibi