Ambassador Lewis visits Kuwait Engineers Society

KUWAIT CITY, Aug 31: British Ambassador to Kuwait Belinda Lewis said “dozens of British companies wish to enter the Kuwaiti market, and they have knowledge of accreditation requirements and opportunities to enter competition and tenders for development projects here,” reports Al-Qabas daily. Lewis made the statement when she visited the headquarters of Kuwait Engineers Society (KES) recently, during which she had a meeting with KES President Faisal Al- Atl and the board members. She praised the strength of Kuwaiti-British relations in various fields; citing the numerous agreements between the two countries, especially in the fields of higher education, cybersecurity, renewable energy, security and safety. The visit resulted in the agreement of KSE and the British Embassy to complete preparations for the joint projects included in the memorandum of understanding signed by KES and the Institute of British Civil Engineers through the Steering Committee between the two countries.

Contributions
While Lewis appreciated the contributions of KES and its volunteers in civil engineering and infrastructure development, she also expressed admiration for the innovations she witnessed among the Kuwaiti volunteers in KSE. She affirmed that the British Embassy’s relationship with the Kuwaiti civil society is distinguished, indicating that KSE is at the forefront of associations cooperating with them in approving the practice of the engineering profession for engineers working in dozens of British companies contributing to the projects in Kuwait’s 2035 development plan.

She highlighted the coordinated efforts of KES and the British Embassy in improving the mechanisms for mutual engineering accreditation; particularly the cooperation of KSE in accrediting energy, security and safety engineers. In addition, Lewis said: “There are about 8,500 Kuwaiti students in various British universities, and we hope to increase this number.”

Meanwhile, Al-Atl stressed “there is no problem in accrediting British certificates; considering the preparatory year is added to the three years of study there.” He said he discussed with the ambassador various ways to further strengthen cooperation and activate the memorandum signed by KES and British Institute of Civil Engineers. He disclosed KES was the first Kuwaiti public benefit association to have an agreement with the institute, which regulates the engineering profession in Britain. He explained the memorandum is on mutual accreditation between the Kuwaiti engineer and his British counterpart to benefit from the expertise of both parties, and the recognition of British and other universities to ease procedures for engineers in Kuwait. He went on to say that they also talked about the signing of another memorandum of understanding with the institute for mutual accreditation, the details of which will be discussed soon. This is in addition to an agreement to benefit from experiments in clean energy and many other projects, he concluded.