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Kuwait charts new path in changing region

Kuwait is carefully positioning itself among its Gulf neighbors as a regional trading hub looking to enter the Chinese and Asian markets, while maintaining its regional relationships and alliance with the West.
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It is difficult to pin down the moment when things started changing in Kuwait. The country’s slow progress, tortoise-like in comparison with its rapidly developing Gulf neighbors Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), often translates into dismissal by the rest of the world, which, seeing Kuwait as going nowhere fast, moves on to other, more interesting things.

Facts on the ground, albeit scattershot and mostly underreported, tell a different story. Kuwait has a strategic plan and is slowly but surely implementing it. The stagnancy and political infighting that marred much of the period between 2006 and 2013 has been replaced by a quiet determination and a concerted effort by the leadership to position Kuwait for the future.

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