Bahraini PM Prince Khalifa bin Salman chairs cabinet meeting

His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa chaired at the Gudaibiya Palace today the regular weekly cabinet meeting.
In a statement following the session, the Secretary-General of the Cabinet Dr. Yaser bin Essa Al-Nasser said that HRH Premier had directed ministries and government bodies to make sure that their initiatives and regulatory decisions take into consideration the visions of all sectors, including the businessl ones represented by the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI).
In this regard, HRH Premier directed the Health Ministry to coordinate with BCCI regarding the provision of primary health care for workers of installations.
HRH the Prime Minister directed to meet the service needs of the Northern Governorate’s villages and towns, and requested the Ministries of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning, Education, Housing, Health and Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments to include those needs in the present and future government projects and programmes.
He explained that the needs of Bani Jamra, Deraz, Al Markh, Sehla, A’ali, Salmabad, Al-Qedam, Abu Quwa and Jeblat Habchi villages, as well as Hamad Town regarding housing, dilapidated houses, health centres, central markets, youth, sport and cultural centres and houses of worship should be included in the ministries’ work plans and implemented accordingly.
HRH the Prime Minister also instructed all ministries and government departments to take the initiative through responding and providing explanations regarding everything related to the public and the citizens and published on social media networks or media outlets to consolidate the principles of transparency and ensure the citizens’ access to information from official credible sources.
The Prime Minister also directed the Labour Ministry to adopt more initiatives that encourage the private sector to attract qualified national competencies, particularly women, urging more cooperation with the private sector to remove all obstacles hindering women’s integration in the labour market.
In a related context, HRH Premier called for the need to continue efforts to maintain unemployment rates at their lower levels, as indicated in the labour market’s indicators for the last quarter of 2014, praising the role played by the Labour Minister and the Labour Ministry’s affiliates in this regard.
The Labour Minister presented a memo on the labour market’s indices, and the Labour Ministry was instructed to coordinate and cooperate with the competent official sides to study the situation of qualified national job-seekers whose disciplines are not required by the labour market in order to train and rehabilitate them and employ them in jobs that appeal to them.
The cabinet also reviewed the performance of Gulf Air, the national carrier, at the financial and operational levels over the past eight years following its restructuring.
Through a memo presented by the Transportation and Telecommunications Minister, the cabinet was informed about Gulf Air’s positive developments at the financial and operational levels during 2013 and 2014, compared to the previous five years.
The cabinet affirmed continuous support to Gulf Air to maintain its competitive potentials and leading status.
The Council of Ministers also discussed a memo presented by the Foreign Minister on four memoranda of understanding (MoU) and an agreement with India regarding education, high education, media, water resources development and exemption from short stay visas for holders of diplomatic and special passports from the two countries, and referred it to the Ministerial Committee for Legal Affairs for further review.
Another MoU between the University of Bahrain and the Russian Saint Petersburg University was discussed and referred to the same committee following a memo presented by the Education Minister in this regard.
The cabinet endorsed an MoU signed between the National Authority for Qualifications and Quality Assurance of Education and Training (QQA) in Bahrain and the UAE’s National Qualifications Authority (NQA) following a recommendation by Deputy Premier and Chairman of the Ministerial Committee for Legal Affairs in this regard, the Cabinet Secretary-General also said.