Dr. Yaser bin Essa Al Naser, Secretary General of the Cabinet, issued the details of the Cabinet meeting.
The Cabinet welcomed the upcoming visit to the Kingdom of Bahrain by Shinzo Abe Prime Minister of Japan and Jong Hong-won Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea and its importance in supporting and enhancing the prospects of cooperation and coordination between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the two friendly countries. The Cabinet recalled the historic fruitful visit carried out to Japan by HM King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and HRH Crown Prince Deputy Supreme Commander First Deputy Prime Minister to the Republic of Korea and its positive outcome reflected in strengthening relations and cooperation between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the two friendly countries. In this context, the Cabinet agreed to sign a number of memorandums of understanding and memorandums of cooperation between the Kingdom of Bahrain with Japan and the Republic of Korea.
HRH the Prime Minister directed the launch of a new package of development projects and economic programs in cities and villages in order to further development to higher level and create more opportunities to those who live in these areas to take advantage of and participate in. All ministries were directed to implement this plan and finance it through their approved budgets.
In light of HRH’s interest in fulfilling the needs of the citizens with regard to services and facilities, the Prime Minister instructed the Ministerial Committees for Social Services, Media, Transportation, and Communications to coordinate with the Ministerial Committee for Services and Infrastructure to study the establishment of a school, sports club, shopping mall, and central market in Hamad Town and to submit the recommendations to the Cabinet regarding this matter.
He also directed the Ministry of Health to consider the extension of work hours in Bahrain and Kuwait Bank Health Center located in Al Hidd to serve the people of the city and take the necessary measures to implement it.
The Cabinet expressed its confidence in the ability of the Egyptian people to overcome the critical stage experienced by the Arab Republic of Egypt by those seeking to ignite sedition or interfere in Egypt’s internal affairs and its legitimate right to defend its vital interests.
The Cabinet also expressed its wishes that they quickly overcome the current circumstances with the concerted efforts of its entire people. Moreover, the Cabinet confirmed its full support of the statement made by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdulla bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia about current events in the Arab Republic of Egypt and emphasized that his position comes as an extension of the historical stance taken by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques that comes from the basis of national responsibility of Saudi Arabia towards Arab and Islamic issues.
The Cabinet then discussed the memorandums listed on its work agenda and made the following decisions:
The Cabinet approved the Ministry of Social Development to be the specialized entity and its Minister to be the specialized minister in implementing the provisions of Law 21 (2013) regarding organizing the collection of money for public matters. This excludes the collection of money from political associations and individuals for religious purposes which the Cabinet commissioned the Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs as the specialized ministry and its minister to implement the provisions of the law above in regards to the collection of money from political societies and individuals for religious purposes.
The Cabinet also approved the adoption of a system for a unified financial control mechanism to be implemented for all civil societies and NGOs in fulfillment of the fifth National Assembly’s recommendations related to draining all sources of terrorism financing as stated in the decree Law 21 (2013) on the organization of collecting money for public purposes.
Within the framework of the government’s continued efforts to prolong the lifetime of pension funds and enable them to achieve financial solvency so as to ensure the continuation of those funds to achieve social objectives, the Cabinet approved the introduction of a feature to allow those who are insured in the private sector to add five years to their service similar to what is applied to the public sector. The Cabinet also decided to allow employees to continue in the pension system once they ended their services for any reason with at least five actual work years to finish. The Cabinet decided to refer the draft law to the Legislative authority in accordance to the Constitution and legal procedures in order to amend Article 12 of Law 13 (1975) on regulating salaries and pensions for public sector employees, and the second bill adding a new article to the social insurance law promulgated by Decree Law 24 (1976).
The Cabinet discussed the establishment of a national fund under the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports designed to support and develop the youth in the Kingdom in each of the following aspects: economic, social, cultural, educational, promoting national spirit, perseverance and encouraging work. The Cabinet instructed the Ministerial Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs and the Ministerial Committee for Legal Affairs to start studying the draft law for this purpose.
The Cabinet approved granting the members of the Military Judiciary in the Ministry of Interior special passports like their counterparts from the Military Judiciary of Bahrain Defense Force, and commissioned to take the required constitutional and legal procedures to forward the draft law bill amending Article 9 of Law 11 (1975) on passports to the Legislative authority.
The Cabinet approved the payment of the Kingdom of Bahrain obligations in peacekeeping missions and international courts of the United Nations and commissioned the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to coordinate with the Ministry of Finance to take the necessary procedures.
The Cabinet approved the formation of the delegation of the Kingdom of Bahrain to attend the 24th session of the Human Rights Council to be held in Geneva next September under the chairmanship of the Minister of Human Rights and representatives of relevant Ministries.
To strengthen the role of the Kingdom of Bahrain as the capital of Arab Tourism 2013, the Cabinet took note by the Minister of Culture of the events and activities of the Bahrain Summer Festival 2013 which supports the leisure tourism program in the country.