Over 28,000 Kuwaitis do not have a job, according to Khaled Al-Shammari, the official spokesman for the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) and Director of the Office of the Director General of PACI. During a daily interview, Al-Seyassah revealed that approximately 190,000 civil IDs have been completed and are prepared for delivery in the machines set aside for this purpose. Additionally, approximately 15,000 cards are issued on a daily basis.

This is indicative of the tremendous effort put forth by the PACI staff. The idea of fining people who don’t get their civil ID cards from PACI agencies is one that is presently being thought about and researched. The purpose of this is to incentivize their owners to accept them and to lessen the occurrence of their accumulation in the devices. This is because the devices are overflowing with ready-to-collect cards, which could cause the issuance of new cards to lag.

Al-Shammari added that the most recent PACI data, released on June 30, 2023, showed that there are 4.823 million people living in Kuwait, of which 1.531 million are citizens and 3.292 million are foreigners. He clarified that as of June 30, 2023, there will be 388,731 Kuwaitis and 112,406 non-Kuwaitis working for government agencies.

A little over 37,077 citizens and 1,547,153 non-Kuwaitis are employed by non-governmental organizations, respectively. 28,190 Kuwaitis and 3,641 non-Kuwaitis make up Kuwait’s unemployed population. There are 290,883 Kuwaiti students and 197,361 non-Kuwaiti students. Al-Shammari emphasized that PACI is the first to investigate and apply the newest technological advancements. He emphasized PACI’s unwavering desire for ongoing advancement in the information technology sector, given its status as a significant government service organization.

Additionally, it is eager to advance toward full digital transformation, of which 70% has already been attained, in order to carry out the Council of Ministers’ directives and the government work program, which lists digital transformation in government agencies as one of its fundamental pillars with the goal of attaining the intended development. Al-Shammari emphasized that the actions PACI is taking to develop and modernize its work mechanisms are closely monitored by the Ministers of State for Municipal Affairs and Communication Affairs, Fahad Al-Shuala.

He declared: “Mansour Al-Mudhni, the Director General of PACI, spares no effort to promote and support the national cadres working in PACI to achieve the organization’s goals and vision, which are shared by all.” One of those objectives is to position the authority at the head of government organizations, keeping up with modern developments in a way that promotes sustainable development and removing any obstacles that might arise during PACI’s work processes. As the processes for contracting to implement the service are currently being finalized, Al-Shammari confirmed that there are no issues with restoring the civil card receipt service for a specific fee.

Since this is an optional service rather than a required one, PACI is attempting to make it easier for cardholders who would like to receive them wherever they are without having to deal with the inconvenience of traveling to PACI or its affiliated branches in the governorates. He emphasized that, beginning on May 29, there is no delay in the issuance of civil ID cards for those whose residence was granted, as the process takes a maximum of three to five days. This is a result of the tremendous work that PACI staff members did, as well as the organization’s careful follow-up. Al-Shammari emphasized the seamless operations at PACI and the elimination of wait times for any procedure at the organization’s main South Surra headquarters, including the issuance or receipt of civil ID cards. “This did not come from nowhere,” he said.

It is the outcome of plans and programs being put into action, such as giving non-Kuwaiti residents of the Ahmadi Governorate ready-to-collect cards at the PACI building in South Sabahiya, giving out all civil ID cards for the first time or replacing lost ones for QR CODE devices, and giving the new cards their first unified serial number feature through the “My Identity” app. Al-Shammari emphasized that numerous artificial intelligence models are being developed to update the map data that PACI produces and makes available via the Kuwait-Finder application or the spatial information portal. He said that the authority uses data from satellite images and ocean imaging. He also mentioned that during 2022, it took pictures of every street in the State of Kuwait in order to update the data it made available on its various applications, supply it to numerous government agencies, control costs, and facilitate agency integration.