Undersecretary inaugurates Bahrain-UN partnership workshop

Manama, Mar. 27 (BNA): Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for International Affairs, Dr. Shaikh Abdullah bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, inaugurated a specialised workshop organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs entitled "Strengthening Partnership between the Kingdom of Bahrain and UN Agencies: Means and Expectations". The workshop was attended by a large number of agents and representatives of various ministries and relevant government agencies. In his welcoming remarks, Dr. Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed noted that the workshop comes within the framework of efforts to build capacity, explore new opportunities and various fields to consolidate the foundations of historical and distinct relations with the United Nations. He also affirmed that the Kingdom of Bahrain, under the wise leadership of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, is at the forefront in interacting with the goals, principles and values of the United Nations and its subsidiary bodies in order to maintain peace and security as well as achieve the 2030 SDGs and in other various areas of joint cooperation. He added that the Kingdom has also succeeded in achieving a qualitative strategic partnership with the international organization, in its belief in the vital and responsible role of the UN in creating a safer and more prosperous world. Dr. Shaikh Abdullah praised the scale and quality of cooperation and interaction with the United Nations, noting in this regard a few of the significant Bahraini initiatives that received global recognition: the King Hamad Award for Empowering Youth to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa Prize for Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Education, HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa Award for Sustainable Development, and Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa Award for Bahraini Women's Advancement, as well as the election of the Kingdom to the membership of several United Nations organizations and to high international positions. The Undersecretary for International Affairs highlighted the aims of the workshop in what it aspired to achieve during its four sessions. The first is to review the latest international developments, how to respond to them, to clarify the Kingdom's most important international commitments and contributions and to highlight the framework of the strategic partnership between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the United Nations agencies for the years 2018-2022. It was also keen to shed light on the most prominent national committees dealing with the United Nations, as well as projects and services and positions affiliated with it, which can either be ministries or government agencies. He added that in recognizing the importance of interaction and performance evaluation, a space was allocated to listen to the views and experiences of ministries and government agencies and to respond to them in the context of the work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In his concluding remarks, Dr. Shaikh Abdullah pointed out how the workshop sessions were enriched with beneficial topics and ideas that can contribute to achieving the desired goal, especially that the Kingdom of Bahrain is keen to promote positive cooperation frameworks with the United Nations in every occasion, and expanding capacity building programs, believing in the importance of the close link between security and development in order to develop mechanisms for collective action to address common challenges. Speaking at the first session of the workshop, the Assistant Undersecretary for Western Countries & Afro Asian Affairs, Ambassador Tawfeeq Ahmed Al Mansoor, discussed the relationship between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the United Nations and the legal frameworks governing that relationship. He reviewed the Kingdom's obligations to the United Nations, most notably: maintaining international peace and security, adopting joint measures to prevent the threat of use of force, developing relations between nations, achieving international cooperation and the peaceful settlement of disputes. The assistant undersecretary described the achievements and contributions of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the United Nations and the international positions taken by the Kingdom, noting that the Kingdom is deserving of all UN memberships it received, such as Bahrain being elected for the third time as a member of the Human Rights Council for the years 2019-2021 and membership of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Committee on NGOs. The Director of the Organizations Directorate, Fatema Aldhaen, displayed during the second session the most prominent internal developments of the United Nations and its impact on the Kingdom of Bahrain, and highlighted the national committees with relevance to the United Nations, in terms of forming each committee, selection of its members, specialties, and its relevant UN bodies. She argued that the framework of the strategic partnership between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the United Nations agencies for the years 2018-2022, its pre-partnership challenges which includes the lack of harmonization of projects, the absence of the coordinating body, the duplication and weakness of the follow-up mechanism, indicating that its objectives are to limit programs and projects to prevent duplication of implementation, and rationalization of spending. She also discussed the latest developments in the United Nations system, changes in the development system in Bahrain and the alignment of national development plans with the United Nations goals for sustainable development and the 2030 SDGs agenda. In the third session, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for International Affairs, Dr. Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, discussed the role of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in enhancing the partnership of government agencies with United Nations agencies. He referred to the central role of the Ministry as a competent authority in strengthening this partnership and signing agreements as well as the steps to sign agreements and memorandums of understanding with United Nations agencies to achieve joint projects and programs. He also provided an overview of the mechanisms for holding UN meetings, receiving delegations, and how to occupy positions at the United Nations. The fourth and final session was devoted to the review of opportunities to promote sustainable partnership with the United Nations, in which the Ministry’s officials spoke of the importance of taking advantage of vacancies at the United Nations and its agencies or resident United Nations offices, the delivery of joint programs and projects through the Strategic Partnership Framework, as well as ways to coordinate promotional side events on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, host regional and international UN meetings, and actively participate in UN meetings and conferences held abroad. The workshop was concluded by holding an interactive session, where a number of speakers and attendees exchanged insights and ideas and constructive recommendations.