The Prime Minister directed all ministries and government entities to establish new mechanisms that help complete requests in ministries as soon as possible, including opening new branches for ministries services in different areas of the Kingdom (temporarily or permanently) or allocating specific timings after office hours for people to handle their business when it is most convenient. He also instructed ministers and government officials to visit and perform spot checks to make sure requests are being processed and finalized quickly in their ministries, as well as to keep evaluating the efficiency of the procedures adopted by their ministries to fulfill citizens’ requests, and work on improving and simplifying them.
HRH the Prime Minister then emphasized the necessity of ministries taking steps to expedite the implementation of the government’s economic, security and political decisions and not delay the process, thereby ensuring the government’s continuous development and providing a secure and safe environment in the Kingdom.
The Cabinet approved a draft law bill that aims to legally regulate postal services with comprehensive legal provisions. The draft law assigns all postal services all over the Kingdom to Bahrain Post in accordance with this law, and regional and international agreements. The Cabinet then referred it to the House of Representatives according to the legal and constitutional measures.
The Cabinet approved a draft law bill on mental health, which regulates governmental and private mental health institutions, patients’ rights, and duties of the medical professionals working in the field. The law bill also regulates admission to mental health institutions, whether voluntary, compulsory or based on a court order. The Cabinet commissioned the specialized entities to take the necessary procedures to refer it to the House of Representatives in accordance to constitutional and legal procedures.
The Cabinet discussed the establishment of a regional center in Bahrain specialized in public sector governance, and approved its establishment plan to start the implementation as per the memorandum submitted by the Minister of State for Follow Up Affairs. This comes as a result of the government’s desire to adopt a national governance model that fulfills global standards though the establishment of a National Observatory of Public Sector Governance composed of international and local experts from relevant government agencies in addition to establishing a comprehensive national vision in the field of governance compatible with international standards.
In light of a memorandum submitted by the Minister of Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning the Cabinet approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on trade in livestock between the Government of Bahrain and the Government of Australia to ensure cooperation between the two countries in the fields of animal health and veterinary public health related to the import of livestock from Australia.
The Cabinet discussed the legal opinion of the Ministerial Committee for Legal Affairs on the memorandum of the Ministry of Health regarding control over the use, promotion and marketing of products used for infant formula as substitutes for breast milk and supplementary food. The Cabinet returned the memorandum to the Ministerial Committee for Legal Affairs to coordinate with the Ministry of Health and establish the proper legal tool.
The Cabinet approved the protocol amending the Convention on Avoidance of Double Taxation between the Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand, and commissioned the Minister of Finance to sign on behalf of the Bahraini Government.
The Cabinet approved a draft agreement between the Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Government of Hungary and the attached protocol on the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income, and commissioned the Minister of Finance to sign on behalf of the Bahraini Government.
The Cabinet approved membership to the World Energy Council and commissioned the Minister of State for Electricity and Water Affairs to coordinate with the relevant authorities.
The Cabinet approved the Kingdom’s participation in the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information in Tax Purposes to be held in Paris in October, through a joint delegation from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and Bahrain Central Bank.
The Cabinet discussed and returned to the Ministerial Committee for Legal Affairs for further study a draft law bill amending some provisions of the Labor Law for the private sector promulgated by Law 36 (2012), which was drafted in response to proposal submitted by the House of Representatives.
The Cabinet took note of the importance of launch of the National Strategy for Childhood aimed at fulfilling the needs of children and its implementation plan for the period of 2013- 2017 (scheduled to commence on September 11), as submitted in a report by the Minister of Social Development.
The Cabinet took note of the conclusion of some of the enriching cultural events within the tourism promotion strategy for the Kingdom of Bahrain, including Bahrain Summer Festival and Ta’a Al-Shabab 2013, through a report submitted by the Minister of Culture.