Kuwait Fund for Arab and Economic Development (KFAED) may support new projects here
We issue no checks, we rather extend loans for projects, approved by experts, reminds Deputy Director General, Mr. Hesham Al-Waqayan

Hesham Al-Waqayan is an experienced financier. He graduated in economics at the Kuwait University in 1978 and started his career of an economist at the Kuwait International Development Fund. He occupied different top positions within the structure of the Fund. He has also been director of Kuwait's branches of Arab and African banks. Fluent in English. Mr. Hesham Al-Waqayan has visited Bulgaria. Eight years ago, famous neurosurgeon Prof. Kostadin Karagyozov, a close friend to his family operated successfully on his daughter.

Many countries, including Bulgaria, show deep interest in the Kuwait International Development Fund. What is this interest due to?
The Kuwait International Fund, over the 44 years of its existence has lent 650 loans to 101 countries, totaling some US$7 billion. The Fund is a tool of developing all-round relations of the State of Kuwait with other countries. The loans are not aimed at garnering financial profit, rather they are granted for the development of infrastructures, transport, farming and other fields of the economy of the countries from the Arab world, Africa, Latin America, Asia and Central Europe. One of the recent loans worth US$70 million was allotted for the reconstruction of the tsunami-hit Asian island of Sumatra. At present the Fund facilitates the economic stabilization of Iraq.

What stirs the keen interest in the Fund?
The interest rates on the loans are low, 1.5 percent, the grace period is 3 years and the maturity period is 25 years. This is very advantageous and explains the great interest in us. We pursue not financial profits, but rather strive for redeemability. Over the recent years, 50 percent of the loans granted, have been redeemed.

What is the largest amount you lent?
A US$100-million loan allotted for an irrigational project in three African states.

The Fund allotted US$40 million for the extension and modernization of Sofia Airport.

Yes, it did. Bulgarian companies won a tender at which the site was offered. Most probably, its implementation will be completed in 2007 or in early 2008.

Are there outlooks for Bulgaria to be granted yet another loan for other project?
Unofficially, talks are being held with Bulgarian representatives, different ideas are being deliberated on, but nothing particular is expected earlier than 2009. We have to be through with Sofia Airport first of all.

What is the difference between the activities of your Fund and those of other similar institutions?
We issue no checks, we rather extend loans for projects, approved by world experts. The money is allotted to the beneficiaries with state guarantees and the Fund allots it directly to the contractors, without the intervention of the governments. There is full transparency and control over the expenditure of the funds, which have to be used exactly for the purpose.

What is your message to the world?
Peace, prosperity, development. This is what we aspire for and this is why we readily share part of our wealth with the other countries in the Middle East, Africa and Europe, including Bulgaria. After the reconstruction in the wake of the Iraqi invasion in the early 1990s, Kuwait is experiencing at present an economic upsurge. That is why we give a helping hand more readily than ever to develop cooperation.

What are the expected ramifications of Bulgaria's EU accession for Bulgarian-Kuwaiti cooperation?
Bulgaria will only prosper from its EU accession. I hope, that economically, your country could well prove to be a Czechia in the Balkans. Bulgaria's EU membership will swing the doors open for foreign investments into your country. I do believe, that many Kuwaiti companies as well as companies from the Arab world, would willingly invest in the private sector of Bulgaria, thus stepping on the big European markets.

What opportunities are there for Bulgarian companies to carry out activities in Iraq via Kuwait?
The opportunities are well available, as Kuwait and Iraq are neighbouring countries and business with Iraq is easily done from our territory.