The volume of industrial investment in Kuwait has amounted to KD 3.1 billion (USD 11.07 billion), according to recent statistics, Minister of Commerce and Industry Anas Al-Saleh said Sunday. This announcement was made in the minister\'s speech during the opening ceremony of His Highness the Amir\'s Prize for outstanding factories. He noted that Kuwait seeks to bring about an annual industrial investment of at least KD 500 million in accordance to the country\'s five-year development plan; achieving this goal would lift up the industrial growth to 12 percent a year. \"It would strengthen the country\'s economy and create job opportunities.\" Hence, the minister said, the creation of the Amir\'s Prize came to meet this strategic industrial goal. The Prize, supervised by the Public Authority for Industry (PAI), evaluates all kinds of industrial products within international standards and criteria. He added that six investment opportunities in petrochemicals was introduced with the cooperation of the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC); the Organization was founded by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to achieve industrial cooperation and coordination between member states. This cooperation, the minister went on saying, would create diversity in the industry sectors among the GCC countries and induce full awareness on the concept of comprehensive industrial cooperation among investors in the Gulf region in order to produce high quality products. On his part, PAI General Manager Barrak Al-Sobaih said in his speech that there are tremendous efforts in encouraging local industries and developing local products. Therefore, the cooperation with GOIC would create 200 job opportunities for local manpower through the execution of six projects in Kuwait valued at USD 175 million