The Prime Minister His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa chaired the weekly cabinet meeting at Gudiabiya Palace.
Following the meeting the Cabinet’s Secretary General Dr Yasser bin Isa Al Nasser gave the following statement:
At the outset of the meeting HRH the Prime Minister reviewed the results of his visit to Kuwait during which he lauded the Kuwaiti stance that is supportive of the Kingdom of Bahrain and its people in all fields. HRH the Premier also the reviewed the highlights of his meetings with the Amir of Kuwait Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah, Kuwaiti Crown Prince Shaikh Nawaf Al Ahmed Al Sabah and Kuwaiti Prime Minister Shaikh Jaber Al Mubarak Al Sabah related to mutual views on further enhancing Bahraini-Kuwaiti ties on the basis of its strong historic and brotherly relations. He also emphasized that talks also covered issues related to the further bolstering of economic and political relations in the region. Moreover, HRH the Premier hailed the honourable stances of the Kuwaiti media that his supportive of the Bahrain.
HRH the Prime Minister affirmed that the government adopts all that helps towards further embedding human rights and reinforce Bahrain’s history in this field. He also indicated the government’s adhering to the principles of human rights in the Kingdom of Bahrain in the prosperous era of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khlalifa challenging with that all attempts to falsify this reality or downplaying the achievements that Bahrain his know for in this field. The Prime Minister within the same context lauded the efforts exerted by the Minister of State for Human Rights and related bodies in making known the achievement accomplished towards embedding the reality of human rights in the Kingdom of Bahrain in organizations and on the international level. HRH also lauded the efforts of the Minister of Interior and security personnel in translating the directives of the government on respecting human rights despite the immense challenges faced by the security personnel.
Following that, HRH ordered the suspension of municipal fees for shop owners and vendors that were affected following the fire that broke out at the traditional market in Isa Town until it is rebuilt. He also appointed the Municipalities and Urban Planning ministry to setup a mechanism to compensate those shop and vendor owners that were affected. Meanwhile, the cabinet endorsed the plan related to developing the agricultural infrastructure at a cost of BD 2.5 million that would include the construction of a building to house veterinary and agricultural laboratories. Moreover, the budget would also cover the development of agricultural quarantines and providing qualified cadres in addition to foreign expertise in accordance with legislation.
The cabinet reviewed the memo referred from the Minister of Interior on amending some of the articles of decree no. 47 for 2002 related to the establishment of Bahrain internet exchange. It was decided that the request be referred to the legal ministerial committee and the most prominent amendment is specifying the duties of this internet exchange.
Then the cabinet discussed the report presented by the Minister of Interior on the procedures undertaken to deal with the latest incident regarding the Liberian ship “Stolt Valor” in cooperation and coordination with related bodies.
The cabinet then reviewed the draft decision on endorsing policies and regulations to further develop the economic laws that were submitted by the Minister of Finance based on recommendation through the national dialogue. The cabinet referred the draft decision to the legal ministerial committee for review.
Following that the cabinet reviewed the results achieved towards the employment of jobseekers and incorporating them within the labour market through various training programmes long with providing them with appropriate job opportunities. The report presented by the Minister of Labour revealed that the number of jobseekers employed every month reach 1784 during this quarter with a noticeable increase of vacancies to 8866. Moreover, an increase was also noticed in the number of trainees which reached approximately 45% compared to the last quarter.
The cabinet referred two draft laws to the legislative authorities presented by the Representative council on allocating an additional budget in the general budget for the fiscal financial year 2012. The second draft is related to amending two articles no. 20 and no. 61 of law no. 13 for 1975 on regulating the salaries and bonuses of retirement for government employees.
The cabinet then approved the suggested presented by the Representative council on employing the volunteers at the Ministry of Health and undertake swift procedures for their employment.