Kuwait, 15 May 2007: Gulf Bank participated in Kuwait's first Localization Conference held at the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry, on the 7th and 8th of May 2007. The conference highlighted the issues faced by companies that are trying to implement the government's new localization guidelines and evaluated various methodologies for this process.

It provided the first structured opportunity for participating companies and institutions to share experiences and identify opportunities for improvement.

The conference outlined the restructuring program undertaken by the Ministry of Labour and Kuwait's Executive Branch pertaining to achievement of the localization quota and to ensure that non-governmental entities also adhere to the Ministry's decisions.

"I was delighted to participate in this conference," said Ms. Ghada Al Ateeqi, Gulf Bank's Recruitment Manager. "I want to take this opportunity to applaud all of you on behalf of Gulf Bank on the great achievement of increasing the local employment rate and your encouragement of the private sector to contribute to this process."

Al Ateeqi ventured on to say: "I would like to highlight some of the challenges faced by organisations, often exemplified by the reluctance of many Kuwaitis to take on certain employment opportunities, in particular, blue collar jobs. Many Kuwaitis avoid working in the private sector because of lack of job tenure and longer working hours. Often there are only limited local candidates with the required qualifications to perform specialised tasks. We have found the private sector reluctant to hiring local candidates because they anticipate lower productivity and higher training costs compared to hiring expatriates. These are only some of the obstacles that we and others like us are facing when trying to implement the localisation process'.

And during her presentation of Gulf Bank's experience she also said that "Gulf Bank has followed a strategic training program that has effectively led to an increased percentage of local employment to over 50% of total employees. Gulf Bank has raised the training budget and expanded the training opportunities as well as offering attractive job opportunities for suitable graduates."

"Gulf Bank actively participates in employment fairs as part of the ongoing recruitment effort. We provide entry level job opportunities for fresh graduates with a serious commitment to offer training and valuable on-the-job experience to facilitate their career advancement up to higher management levels' Al Ateeqi added.

In conclusion, Al Ateeqi said, "During 2006, we have received several international awards in recognition of our work in the field of human resources. The Stevie International Award for business sectors was one of the most recent, and ranked Gulf Bank's human resources department as one of the best HR teams in the world.

Gulf Bank won the award given by the GCC Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs for its localization efforts for two consecutive years, 2005 and 2006. Gulf Bank achieved this through providing ample training programs to Kuwaiti employees to support them in gaining new and higher positions within the company. All these awards are the result of continuous efforts by Gulf Bank's HR team to establish a strong base of talented, well trained and qualified Kuwaiti employees.