MANAMA: Kuwait said yesterday it will finance projects worth $1.3 billion in Bahrain as part of pledges made two years ago. The funds will be used to finance part of four development projects over the next few years, including power transmission networks, housing projects and a key road, the state-owned Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development said.

Fund officials signed the agreements with Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa. At a meeting in Riyadh in March 2011, the GCC states decided to set up a $20bn fund to finance development projects in Bahrain and Oman.