The Cabinet on Sunday emphasized that any attack on policemen is seen as an attack on the Kingdom itself, as they are considered a critical pillar of society providing security and stability and carrying out the important role of maintaining order and implementing the law.
The weekly regular Cabinet meeting, which was chaired by His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa and held at the Gudaibiya Palace, emphatically condemned the recent terrorist attack in Bani Jamra on May 29th that resulted in the injury of several policemen, including one who underwent amputation of his leg.
The Cabinet stressed that the government would not hesitate to combat terrorism, eliminating it at its roots; and will not allow for anything to threaten the safety and security of the Kingdom of Bahrain. Moreover, it was noted that such criminal acts of terror cannot be justified in any way and the culprits will be punished in a court of law.
While the Cabinet wished a speedy recovery to all policemen who were injured in last week’s terrorist attack, HRH Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa directed the relevant authorities to facilitate all necessary means to take care of the injured policemen and provide all services to secure their lives and their needs.
HRH the Premier also commended the Minister of Interior and expressed his appreciation for all the tireless efforts made by the Minister, the security agencies and police forces to maintain safety and stability in the Kingdom.
The Prime Minister also thanked all security agencies in their effective role in expediting the investigation and arrest of the perpetrators of the attack in Bani Jamra. He pointed out that no one is above the law and assured that such acts of terrorism will not affect the leadership and the people of Bahrain, or prevent them from moving forward on the path of freedom and democracy.
The Cabinet also recognized Bahrain for hosting the Association of Senates, Shura and Equivalent Councils in Africa and the Arab World, commending the decisions and recommendations made by the association. The Cabinet stressed the importance of such meetings that promote understanding between people and support relationships between countries and their constitutional institutions; and noted the positive implications of the meeting at the level of Gulf-African relations in general, and specifically Bahrain-African relations.
The Prime Minister instructed all ministers to give full attention to Bahraini citizens and follow up on any deficiencies of the services provided them, as well as monitoring government projects closely through completion and effective operation. He directed the Ministry of Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning and the Electricity and Water Authority to complete the technical procedures and resolve any problems that may affect the speed of rebuilding and completion of the local market in Isa Town. He also directed them to investigate the cause of repetitive water cut-offs in Riffa and resolve it immediately.
The Cabinet then wished success to Bahrain’s students in all levels of the Kingdom’s educational institutions in their final exams for the academic year 2012-2013. The Cabinet reviewed with the Minister of Education the preparations provided by the Ministry to conduct the finals exams in an appropriate manner.
The Cabinet approved and forwarded to the Legislative authorities the draft law to amend Article 8 of the Trade Unions Act issued by Decree no. 33 (2002) regarding trade union representation that has been agreed upon as the most representative of Bahraini workers by the unions to represent workers in the international arena, group negotiations and arbitration with the employed. In the case where there is no agreement among the unions, the amendment states that the Minister of Labor will issue the decision after getting the approval from the Cabinet with the rules, procedures and controls related to the union representing the workers in the Kingdom.
The Cabinet approved and forwarded to the Legislative authorities in accordance to the Constitution and Law a draft law on the trademark system in the GCC that was approved by the GCC Council in the 33rd session in December 2012 in Bahrain. The system project aims to cover the following: regulate trademarks through learning the procedures to register them; establish the period of protection; consider write-off registration, transfer of ownership, mortgage, seizure, licensing contracts of use, registration of group trademarks, surveillance and signs of bodies of public interest and professional organizations; establish measures to stop Customs clearance of goods believed to be counterfeit or forged; and consider sanctions for those who forge or replicate a trade mark that has been registered to be subject to a fully integrated investigation between the GCC nations; and standardization of systems and economic policies.
The Cabinet forwarded to the Legislative authorities a draft law bill to amend Article 33 of Decree 78 (2006) about insurance against unemployment prepared in light of the law proposal submitted by the House of Representatives, which includes a memorandum with the governments’ insights.
The Cabinet confirmed the great desire of the Kingdom of Bahrain to support anything that would encourage greater cooperation between the Arab Gulf states to facilitate the Gulf Union, in order to effectuate the initiative of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. During the discussion the support of the House of Representatives on this issue was noted.
The Cabinet acknowledged the Annual Report (2012) of the Ministry of Commerce.
The Cabinet took note on assigning the Legislative authority the following draft law bills: (1) the real estate registration issued by Decree no. 15 (1979) prepared in light of the proposal submitted by the House or Representatives; (2) the approved the draft law bill on the ratification of the agreement between the government of the Kingdom of Bahrain and the government of Barbados on avoiding double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes imposed on income related to Royal Decree no. 13 (2013); (3) the draft law bill to amend article 9 of Law18 (2006) about social security prepared in response to the proposal submitted by the House of Representatives; (4) and the draft law bill to establish a fund to address citizens who are proven by the courts to be unable to repay their consumer loans and non-commercial installments towards government services and financial institutions as prepared in a proposal submitted by the House of Representatives. The Cabinet also noted the decision of the Shura Council and House of Representatives regarding adopting the closing account of the Kingdom’s fiscal year ending 31 December 2010, as well as the Performance and Budget Implementation Report for the fiscal year 2010.