50 to 80 tons of foodstuff, consumer goods being imported daily – Shuaib

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‘MoSA spares no effort to control strategic stock of food’

KUWAIT CITY, April 16: Undersecretary at the Ministry of Social Affairs Abdulaziz Shuaib confirmed that the ministry is committed to decisions of the Council of Ministers and health authorities to prevent marketing gatherings and festivals, and focus this year on the strategic stock of cooperative societies.

He pointed out that the cooperatives currently spend large sums on sterilization, cleaning and screening of customers before shopping, in addition to protective baskets and other items provided to shareholders free of charge or at low prices, reports Al- Rai daily.

At the sidelines of a recent inspection tour of Al-Qadisiya Cooperative Society, Al-Shuaib stressed that “the strategic stock of food is good”, and that the Ministry of Social Affairs did not spare any effort to follow up and control the strategic stock and the activities of cooperative societies.

He added, “In the event of approval to distribute the Ramadan hamper provided by cooperative societies annually, controls of the health authorities in preventing gatherings will be adhered to and the distribution mechanism will be determined by the board of directors of respective societies, which will either be delivered to homes or places characterized by spatial distance.”

Importing
On the process of importing foodstuffs up to a year, Shuaib said, “the Ministry of Social Affairs urges societies to increase stockpiles to more than 6 months in anticipation of any emergency, especially as the global health crisis is increasing and according to health opinions, we have not reached the peak stage.” “With any news, the societies are scrambled, so we need stock from six months to one year for nine commodities”, he said.

He pointed out that the import process is easy and smooth, especially with the formation of work teams from the Council of Ministers. “I am a member of the air freight team in charge of facilitating the supply of food stocks from all friendly countries.”

He added: “We carry out the import process from 5 to 10 aircraft daily, each carrying 50 to 80 tons of foodstuffs and consumer goods, in coordination with the General Administration of Customs, Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the relevant authorities.” He stressed: “The stock does not belong to cooperative societies only, but there are suppliers, parallel markets, and companies that have food stocks.”

He pointed to coordination with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in managing the stock in the country. He touched on the efforts of the Ministry of Commerce and inspection teams to follow up on all cooperative societies in all governorates to ascertain several things, the most important of which, the existence of food security, sufficient strategic storage and making sure there are backup schools for the strategic stock.

He reaffirmed that the society’s workers operate within the residential area in compliance with the instructions of health authorities, praising the efforts and activities of volunteers in Al-Qadisiya Cooperative Society among the residents of the area.

On the tour of Al-Qadisiya Cooperative Society, Shuaib praised the sound management of the society headed by Ali Al-Kandari, indicating the packaging is excellent. He also praised the availability of all consumer and food requirements.

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