His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa has taken pride in the Bahraini citizens’ love and loyalty to the wise leadership and their keen interest to express those feelings at all occasions, asserting that Bahrainis have become a model of unity, solidarity and cohesion.
“A nation blessed with a cohesive people with noble feelings as such deserves its bright present and will have a much more prosperous future thanks to its citizens’ exemplary unity under the banner of the cherished nation, led by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa,” he said.
This came as HRH Premier chaired the Cabinet weekly meeting. The cabinet congratulated the students and all the affiliates of the Education Ministry on the new academic year, 2011-2011, urging them to double their efforts in order to upgrade students’ learning and enhance the education march in the kingdom.
The ministers also stressed that schools and universities should be venues for learning and patriotism, calling on the concerned sides to raise students’ awareness, enhance cooperation with parents and avoid all things that may harm the educational march so that the intended goals can be achieved. In this context, the Education Minister Dr. Majid bin Ali Al Nuaimi updated the cabinet on the Education Ministry’s preparations to receive over 127000 students in the Kingdom’s 205 schools regarding maintenance works, provision of school buses and students’ books and the efforts being made to improve syllabi, books and training.
HRH Premier reviewed the progress of housing projects in the country, stressing that all government projects should go ahead as planned in order to achieve the kingdom’s housing strategy.
The Housing Minister briefed the HRH Premier on what has been done so far concerning the 4000 housing units currently constructed across Bahrain, revealing that the Housing ministry will distribute 1500 housing units in October. Then, the cabinet reviewed the recommendations issued by the Government Committee in Charge of Following up and Implementing the National Consensus Dialogue visions, chaired by Deputy Premier Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, regarding the economic theme. The Committee made the following decisions:
The Committee urged all government bodies to implement the recommendations of the National Financial and Administrative Audit Court before the end of September.
It also directed to establish a special committee, chaired by Deputy Premier and Vice-President of the Civil Service Bureau, to set up the suitable criteria and requirements for appointing government representatives at the Boards of government bodies and companies.
The Committee recommended the government representatives in the boards of government bodies and companies should serve no more than two terms in one board at a time.
The committee urge the state companies with more than 30% government capital to coordinate with the Industry and Commerce Ministry in order to implement good governance measures and submit a report to the Ministerial Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs and the Government Committee in Charge of Following up and Implementing the National Consensus Dialogue visions on the procedures taken in this regard by the end of this month.
It also requested the High Education Council to put forth a national strategy for Research and Development and link it with the public and private sectors so as to increase the competitiveness of the kingdom’s economy within three months.
The Committee recommended the Ministerial Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs to study government fees in a way that consolidates the performance the national economy and takes into consideration the citizens’ living standards.
The Committee in another decision requested the Finance, the Industry and Commerce and Human Rights and Social Development Ministries to conduct study on the effectiveness of government subsidies, including its goals and expected results, every four years, with the first to be submitted before the end of 2011.
It also recommended to the concerned government sides to coordinate with the Bahrain Centre for Excellence to make government performance indices available to the public in no more than three months. After that, the cabinet launched a project aiming to raise the salaries of those Bahraini university graduates working at private sector.
The two-year scheme will benefit a total of 22000 Bahrainis who are registered in the General Organisation for Social Insurance and who get less than BD400 a month.
The project is reflects the government’s keen interest to continue rising salaries for Bahraini citizens in line with the wise leadership’s directives and the agreed upon visions of the National Consensus Dialogue.
The cabinet approved a plan submitted by the Representatives Council to facelift old areas in the Muharraq governorate, stressing that the heritage character of the town should be preserved. The cabinet also approved a similar plan to develop Isa Town and instructed the Works Ministry to take the necessary procedures.
The cabinet reiterated its commitment to promoting the values of transparency, fairness, equal opportunities and safeguarding of public money, as the best way to achieve economic efficiency, praising in this regard the vital role played by the Tender Board in this regard.
The cabinet endorsed a draft law on ratifying the agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income and on Capital signed between the governments of Bahrain and Georgia.