Kuwait Cabinet backs licences for new newspapers

Kuwait's Prime Minister Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah said yesterday that the government supports proposals to grant new licences for daily newspapers but the process has to be regulated.

In statements carried by Al Rai Al Aam daily, he said that the most important regulation is that licences will be issued only to public shareholding companies and not individuals.

"The next step in the reforms programme, after approving women's political rights, is expanding media freedom through a new press and publications law that|gives wider margin of responsible freedom for the media and allows granting licences for new dailies with regulations," Shaikh Sabah said.

A draft law to amend the 1961 Press and Publications Law has been in parliament for almost two years amid pressure by MPs for wider media freedom and government resistance that such freedom must be regulated.

The main issue at stake is licences for new dailies, after the government has refused to issue any new licence for the last 25 years.

MPs have accepted mild regulations to be imposed on new licences, but the government is insisting that the issue was of vital national interest and must be well-regulated.

Shaikh Sabah stressed that the government will forge ahead with reforms which must include modernisation of economic and financial legislation, combating corruption and strengthening accountability.

The writer is a journalist based in Kuwait.