The Cabinet expressed its pride in Bahrain’s winning membership in UNESCO’s International Education Bureau in the elections during the organization’s general conference held in the organization’s headquarters in Paris. The cabinet emphasized that such achievement confirms the Kingdom of Bahrain’s fine position and appreciation of the world towards our educational progress, praising the efforts exerted by the Minister of Education in this respect.
HRH Prime Minister congratulated pilgrims who have been bestowed the divine grace of performing the Hajj and returning home after their successful performance of a major pillar of Islam. His Royal Highness the Prime Minister hailed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s government under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince HRH Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz Al Saud for the facilitation and services provided to pilgrims enabling them to perform this religious rite in serenity.
His Royal Highness chaired the regular weekly cabinet meeting this morning at Gudaibya Palace. Cabinet Affairs Minister Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed issued details of the cabinet deliberations.
In view of the government’s keenness to continuously follow up the progress made in implementing the national consensus dialogue’s views, the cabinet reviewed the work done regarding 10 bills of law currently tabled before the legislature which realize the implementation of 15 national dialogue conceded views amongst which are press and publications, childhood, labour in the private sector’s and audio-visual media bills of law. The cabinet also reviewed draft bills of law which implement 25 views as well as actions taken regarding legal formulation thereof in addition to 16 views currently underway in the relevant ministries for compiling the requisite legal instruments thereof. The cabinet instructed all ministries to expedite the preparation of draft bills of law and coordinate with the Implementation Committee and the Legal Fatwa and Legislation Authority for preparation of the legal instruments. On the other hand, the cabinet verified the finalization of implementation of 25 actionable views into executive programs. The cabinet also reviewed the follow up of implementation of the rest of views and the stages attained in implementation through the mechanism set up by the committee formed by His Royal Highness the Prime Minister tasked to follow up the implementation of national dialogue conceded views through the memorandum-in-report submitted for this purpose by the minister of state for follow up affairs cum chairman of the said committee.
His Royal Highness the Prime Minister ordered facilitation of some procedures which enable the restoration of some homes listed as dilapidated but have not yet been reconstructed because of a number of technical and administrative procedures which have prevented the reconstruction including failure to complete the procedures of obtaining title deeds by proprietors thereof. His Royal Highness the Prime Minister ordered, for this purpose, starting the implementation of applications submitted by such homeowners provided that the procedures to obtain the title deed documentation shall be completed later on by the homeowners.
His Royal Highness the Prime Minister instructed the Ministry of Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning to commence the implementation of these applications provided that the procedures to obtain the title deed documentation later on by the homeowners.
His Royal Highness the Prime Minister instructed the Ministry of Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Energy to promptly commence on the implementation steps for construction of a health center, schools and fuel station to serve the inhabitants of Jow, Askar and Al-Dour in the Southern Region.
Within the government’s prompt steps to crystallize the content of the national dialogue conceded views and implementation thereof, the cabinet acted as follows:
The Cabinet approved and referred to the legislature, a bill of law regarding modification of some provisions of the criminal procedures Act issued by the Decree-by-Law No. 46 for the year 2002. The amendment fulfills the national dialogue’s conceded views and aims at the reduction of precautionary remanding duration and the introduction of a judgment which allows anyone who has been precautionary remanded in this manner to submit complaint against a precautionary judgment in case the Public Prosecution rejections an application to release him/her.
The cabinet approved and referred to the legislature a bill of law regarding amendment of some provisions of the Decree-by-Law No. 27 for the year 2002 for creation of the Constitutional Court; and, the modification allows the Constitutional Court’s general assembly to be presided over by the Court’s chief (magistrate) and that the court issues its resolutions by absolute majority of attending voters; and, that if there is a tie, the side to which the court’s chairman belonged shall outweigh (break the tie); and, that in the event of the court’s chairman absence or should his position becomes vacant or if there is an obstacle with him, he shall be succeeded by the court member whose name comes next to him in order in the Royal Ordinance issued appointing them who shall have the powers and jurisdiction prescribed for him as the court’s chairman.
Within the government’s persistent follow up of the provision of quality health services, the cabinet reviewed workflow in the health centers and operational status of Salmaniya Medical Complex after restoration of normal health services in the aftermath of recent incidents. The cabinet reviewed the memorandum submitted in this respect by Minister of Human Rights and Social Development cum Acting Minister of Health.
The cabinet approved and referred to the legislature bills of law regarding ratification of agreements between the Kingdom of Bahrain’s government and the governments of Denmark, Farrow Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden regarding exchanging of information pertaining to taxation issues.
The cabinet took notice of a memorandum submitted from Minister of Industry and Commerce regarding Arabian Jewelry Show 2011 in its 20th version to be conducted under the kind auspices of His Royal Highness the Prime Minister during the period 22-26 November 2011.
The cabinet took notice of approval by the Shura Council and the House of Representatives of bill of law regarding ratification of agreement regarding double-tax avoidance and non-evasiveness on income tax between the Kingdom of Bahrain’s government and the government of Seychelles Republic; and, bill of law regarding ratification of agreement regarding double-tax avoidance and non-evasiveness on income tax between the Kingdom of Bahrain’s government and the government of Malta; and, bill of law regarding ratification of agreement regarding double tax avoidance and non-evasiveness on income tax between the Kingdom of Bahrain’s government and the government of Bermuda regarding double-tax avoidance and non-evasiveness on income tax; bill of law regarding ratification of protocol regarding double-tax avoidance and non-evasiveness on income tax between the Kingdom of Bahrain’s government and the government of Malaysia; and, bill of law regarding ratification of agreement and accompanying protocol regarding on income tax between the Kingdom of Bahrain’s government and the government of United States of Mexico and bill of law regarding ratification of agreement regarding double-tax avoidance and non-evasiveness on capital income and profits taxation between the Kingdom of Bahrain’s government and the government of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; and, bill of law for ratification of articles of association of the International Renewable Energy Agency; and , bill of law regarding the Kingdom of Bahrain’s joining into the World Development Organization’s agreement; and, bill of law for ratification of agreement between the Kingdom of Bahrain’s government and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) regarding creation of the regional center for technology, information and communications in Manama, Bahrain; and bill of law for ratification of framework agreement for economic cooperation between GCC countries and South American Economic Organization (Mercosur).
The cabinet also took notice of resolution by the Shura Council and the House of Representatives regarding approval of the Decree-by-Law No. 53 for the year 2010 for ratification of agreement between the Kingdom of Bahrain’s government and UNESCO regarding creation of the regional center for international heritage in the Kingdom of Bahrain as well as the Decree-by-Law No. 49 for the y ear 2010 regarding modification of some provisions of Financial Audit Bureau’s Act issued by the Decree-by-Law No. 16 for the year 2002.
Regarding ministerial reports, the cabinet reviewed the outcome of participation during the Arab League Council’s meeting in its extraordinary ministerial session held recently in Cairo regarding the latest developments in the Arab Republic of Syria; and, the results of participation in the first joint ministerial meeting for strategic dialogue between the GCC countries and the Russian Federation held in Abu Dhabi from the two reports submitted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs in this respect.