Kuwait needs to address intellectual property rights and labour laws to move towards a free trade agreement with the United States, the US ambassador to the Gulf Arab state said on Saturday. Washington and regional ally Kuwait signed a trade and investment framework agreement in 2004 and Ambassador Richard LeBaron said the pace of negotiations for the free trade pact will depend in part on progress in addressing key issues.
"The first is better protection of intellectual property rights, which should be achieved through passage, implementation and enforcement of appropriate laws to protect copyright, patents and trademarks, and to criminalise piracy," he said.
The envoy told a conference that Kuwait's penalties were not "harsh enough" to deter future offenders and that laws should be amended to conform with World Trade Organisation agreements.
A software industry body earlier this month said Kuwait's piracy rate was at 68 percent last year. Piracy and violation of copyright continues to plague the Middle East because of weak enforcement of intellectual property right laws.
LeBaron said Kuwait also needed to make its labour laws more consistent with International Labour Organisation principles, to allow freedom of association and collective bargaining.
Washington has also urged fellow Gulf Arab states Oman and the United Arab Emirates, with which it is conducting free trade agreement negotiations, to amend their labour laws.
Kuwaiti Trade Minister Abdullah al-Tawil told the conference his country was amending its copyright laws. He said Kuwait had also passed several laws aimed at "economic openness", including opening its banking and insurance sectors to foreign firms as well as liberalising its telecommunications sector.