Etiquette It is customary to shake hands when introducing yourself. However, it is important to allow members of the opposite sex to extend their hand to initiate the handshake. It is also not uncommon to see men greet each other with kisses on both cheeks. The dress code during business meetings is professional and conservative, and exchange of business cards is customary. If you are travelling…
In an era marked by profound technological disruption and intense global competition in new frontier industries, emerging markets are striving to improve and adapt their education systems to reconcile the demands of the modern economy and the needs of citizens. As such, innovative solutions are being developed to address barriers within traditional education systems. As such, education technology…
From 206 BCE to 220 CE, China’s Han dynasty fostered a booming trade industry for silk, a precious commodity in high demand among the elites of the Mediterranean. The Silk Road was the name given to the network of trade routes connecting the East and West at the time. Later, spices and other precious cargo would be traded using the system, fostering not only economic, but also cultural links…
Two of the biggest trends in global insurance in recent years are premium growth in emerging markets and the rising importance of technology across the supply chain. The latter has come to be referred to as insurtech, a potentially disruptive trend that heralds both threats to and opportunities for incumbents and newcomers alike. While technological solutions are being applied along the insurance…
Kuwait’s equity markets have gone through a remarkable series of reforms in recent years, which have been rewarded with upgrades by international index compilers and ballooning inflows of foreign investment. Enabling infrastructure and a robust legal framework are in place to ensure the markets’ continued development, and demand for assets has been proven. What is critical going forward…
Kuwait is a constitutional sovereign state situated in the north-western corner of the Gulf, bordered by Iraq and Saudi Arabia. As a founding member of both the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the GCC, Kuwait has forged a number of strategic relationships throughout its history. Despite the rising geopolitical challenges in the region, Kuwait has largely maintained…
Various developments point to healthy economic performance in the near term for Kuwait. Chief among them are the upgrade of the country’s stock exchange, which has been approved for addition to the MSCI Emerging Markets Index; the continuing rollout of a large infrastructure programme; and the transition into higher value-added downstream production within the country’s leading hydrocarbons…
Global trade faces protectionist headwinds that are dampening the outlook for growth in the coming years. According to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), trade volumes grew by 3% in 2018 and are expected to decline slightly to 2.6% in 2019 before climbing to 3% in 2020. This may be the first time since the 2007-08 global financial crisis that growth will fall below a 3% average, as significant…
As a resource-rich economy, Kuwait is diligently looking to deploy its oil wealth to develop and diversify the economy. The nation aims to attract more than $200bn in foreign direct investment (FDI) between 2020 and 2035 in order to become a global centre for trade and finance. The government is taking concrete steps towards achieving its ambitions to boost private sector investment in key…
Decades of growth in trade and foreign investment have made the economies of the world more interdependent than ever before. The production of goods and, increasingly, the provision of services has become fractured across borders as corporations integrate into regional and global value chains – a process reinforced by international trade and investment regimes. On aggregate, advanced economies…
