Crown Prince chairs Cabinet session

Manama, Oct. 24 (BNA): His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, today chaired the Cabinet meeting at Gudaibiya Palace. At the start of the meeting, His Royal Highness congratulated the Prime Minister, His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, on receiving the Order of the Golden Fleece, which was awarded to him by the Royal Habsburg family and the Hollabrunn City Council in recognition of his efforts to support charities, his humanitarian activities, and advocating peace. His Royal Highness instructed government ministries and authorities to adopt initiatives that promote excellence and support high-quality standards across all government sectors, particularly within the education sector. His Royal Highness outlined that citizens’ satisfaction with the services provided to them is the government’s utmost priority. In this regard, His Royal Highness recalled his recent visit to Amna bint Wahab School and cited it as an example of excellence within the Kingdom. The Crown Prince noted that the school was awarded the Quality of Education Award at the Government Forum 2016 for obtaining an outstanding grading over three consecutive years. His Royal Highness then praised the participation of GCC countries in the joint security exercise ‘Arabian Gulf Security 1’, which demonstrates the forces’ professionalism and ability to maintain security in the Gulf and wider region. Following the Crown Prince’s remarks, the Interior Minister gave a presentation about the preparations put in place ahead of the exercise. His Royal Highness then directed the Cabinet to provide all necessary services to the ports in Bahrain, which is in line with the National Strategic Master Plan. The Cabinet then extended its sincere condolences to the leadership and people of Qatar and the royal family following the death of His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, the former Emir of Qatar. The Cabinet went on to recall the late Emir’s contributions and achievements in Qatar, the GCC and the Arab World. A number of memorandums submitted by ministries and ministerial committees were also discussed during this week’s Cabinet meeting, including: His Royal Highness directed that economic indicators prepared by government authorities be utilised and used for enhancing the government’s ability to initiate and plan future initiatives based on clear evidence from each sector. In this regard, His Royal Highness instructed all government ministries and authorities to commit to producing accurate statistics in order to achieve further success across all levels. Following this, the Cabinet reviewed a range of economic indicators for the second quarter of 2016, notably headline growth of 2.6% and the increase in the amount of domestic and foreign investment by BHD 722 million, which reflects a percentage increase of 3.5%. Additionally, 34 industrial permits have been issued for projects worth over BHD 30 million, which will see the creation of 1,244 jobs, and 51 industrial projects worth over BHD 26 million have been initially approved. The rate of inflation had also not changed from 2015. His Royal Highness instructed the Cabinet to increase controls and strengthen mechanisms to combat any pollution in the Kingdom’s waters, resulting from oil spillage caused by tankers and ships. In this regard, the Cabinet approved a memorandum on Bahrain's accession to both the Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims 1976 Convention and its amendments and the International Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage, 2001. The Cabinet approved the registration of a number of ships owned by non-Bahrainis in line with the Maritime Law and its amendments following a presentation by the Minister of Transport and Telecommunications. The Cabinet approved a memorandum of understanding between Bahrain’s Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications and the Sultanate of Oman’s Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications regarding the mutual recognition of certificates in accordance with Regulation (10/1) of the STCW Convention 1978 and its amendments. The Cabinet instructed the Ministerial Committee for Legal Affairs to take the necessary legal steps to ratify the establishment of the Bahraini-Russian Government Commission for Commercial, Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation. The Cabinet instructed the Ministerial Committee for Legal Affairs to take the necessary steps to ratify the Statute of the Economic Gulf Cooperation Council Judicial Authority, which was adopted by the Supreme Council for the GCC in its 16th meeting in Saudi Arabia in May. The Cabinet took note of four draft proposals by the legislative authority. The topics related to addressing the actuarial deficit of insurance funds, temporary field medical centres, nurses in public schools, and the completion of the port of Umm Al Hassam facilities and Juffair and Ghuraifa.